A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

articulator-based feature theory 35
articulator. Two kinds of articulators are distinguished: ‘active’ articulators are
the movable parts of the vocal apparatus, such as the lips, tongue and lower
jaw; ‘passive’ articulators are those parts of the vocal tract which cannot move,
but which provide the active articulators with points of reference, e.g. the roof
of the mouth, the upper teeth.
The study of articulation using instrumental techniques has emphasized the
importance of seeing articulation not as a sequence of independently articulated
sounds but as a continuum of sound production. This principle is obscured
through the use of phonetic transcription. The transcription [kæt] suggests
the existence of three discrete segments: what it obscures is the existence of
the transitions between segments, as the several articulators, working simultaneously,
gradually move from one articulatory position to the next. Forms
of transcription which draw attention to these continuously varying (dynamic)
parameters are devisable, but they are complex, and lack the immediate readability
of the segmental transcription.
Several types of articulation can be distinguished. Most sounds are produced
with a single point of articulation. Sounds may, however, be produced involving
two points of articulation (coarticulation), in which case two articulatory
possibilities emerge: the two points of articulation both contribute equally to the
identity of the sound (double articulation or co-ordinate coarticulation); or one
point of articulation may be the dominant one (the primary (co-)articulation),
the other having a lesser degree of stricture (the secondary (co-)articulation).
Examples of secondary articulation are palatalization, velarization,
pharyngealization and labialization.
(2) There is a second use of the phrase double articulation, within the linguistic
theory associated with the French linguist André Martinet (1908–99). He
used the term to refer to the two levels of structure in which language is
organized: speech can be analysed into the meaningful forms of language (i.e.
morphemes, words, etc.), and this constitutes a ‘first’ articulation; these units
are then capable of further analysis into the meaningless sound units of language
(i.e. phonemes), and this constitutes a ‘second’ articulation. A corresponding
term in more widespread use is duality of structure.
articulator (n.)
see articulation
articulator-based feature theory In phonology, a development of feature
theory in which speech is modelled in terms of a series of independently
functioning articulators (lips, tongue front, tongue body, tongue root, soft
palate, larynx), represented by nodes on separate tiers. Articulator features are
also called ‘place’ features, because they are grouped under the place constituent
in the feature hierarchy. labial, coronal and dorsal nodes represent
single-valued features. Articulator-bound features depend on a specific feature
for their execution, further specifying the nature of a constriction formed by
an articulator (e.g. apical and laminal articulations are distinguished under
the coronal node through the use of the features [anterior] and [distributed]).
Articulator-free features (or ‘stricture features’) are not restricted to a
specific articulator; they identify the degree of stricture of a sound independent
of the articulators involved (e.g. [+continuant] sounds represent a continuous