Natural Classes

CONSONANTS

The distinctive features of English phonemes.

Phonetic Features

The most basic component of a speech sound is a feature, which can be described as the minimal specification that separates one Glossary Link phoneme from another. In fact, a phoneme can be described as a bundle of features, since all phonemes bear at least two or more.

Articulatory features are defined in terms of the amount and type of constriction of air as it travels through the Glossary Link vocal tract.

Consonants are described by place and Glossary Link manner of articulation as well as by voicing. When the vocal folds vibrate, the phoneme is said to be ‘ Glossary Link voiced.’ [+voice]. The opposite is true when the vocal folds do not come into contact. [-voice].

The Glossary Link place of articulation of a phoneme refers to the area in the vocal tract where an active Glossary Link articulator comes into contact with a passive articulator and includes the terms:

Passive Articulator Active Articulator

Glossary Link Bilabial: top lip bottom lip

Labio- Glossary Link dental: upper teeth lower lip

Glossary Link Interdental: teeth tip of the tongue

Dental: back of the top teeth tip of the tongue

Glossary Link Alveolar: alveolar ridge tip of the tongue

Post-alveolar: slightly behind the alveolar ridge tip of the tongue

Glossary Link Palatal: hard palate body of the tongue

Glossary Link Velar: soft palate back of the tongue

Uvular: against or near the uvula back of the tongue

Pharyngeal: pharyngeal wall the Glossary Link root or base of the tongue

Glottal: (also called laryngeal) the Glossary Link glottis is a combination of the vocal chords and the space between them.

Manners of articulation describe the obstruction of airflow as it travels through the oral and Glossary Link nasal cavities and include:

Glossary Link Stops: total closure with a burst release

Nasals: no closure; air passes through the nasal cavity

Fricatives: enough sustained closure to create friction or a ‘hissing’ noise

Affricates: total closure with a Glossary Link fricative release

Liquids: partial sustained closure allowing ‘ Glossary Link vowel-like’ resonance

Glides: also called semi-vowels. Little to no closure and highly resonant

Groups of phonemes can be classified according to places and manners of articulation and voicing. These features are often used to create natural classes of sounds. For instance, the phonemes [p,b,m] all bear the place of articulation feature [bilabial] which distinguishes them from all other phonemes in American English. The phonemes [n,m,ŋ] all bear the manner of articulation [nasal] which distinguishes them from all other phonemes in American English. The Glossary Link natural class [p, t, k] can be described as stops which are [-voice].

Glossary Link Acoustic features bear specific physical properties which can be observed with various machines and computer programs. Sound wave forms can be observed for noise content or friction, which is created by fricatives such as[s, z, f, θ]. Sets of phonemes can be categorized by frequencies. All phonemes which bear the feature [+voice] have a fundamental frequency which is based on the number of vibrations per second of the vocal folds. Such a set of phonemes would include all vowels, nasals, and liquids.

Auditory features are defined by how they are recognized by the listener. For instance a native Spanish speaking listener will perceive the sound /z/ differently from a native English speaker due to the fact that this phoneme does not belong to the Spanish phonemic inventory.

When describing a consonant, list the features in these orders.

For stops, fricatives, and affricates: voicing/aspiration, place of articulation, manner of articulation.

For nasals, liquids, and glides: place of articulation and manner of articulation. Voicing is not mentioned since these phonemes are always [+voice].

For example, [p] would be identified as a Glossary Link voiceless bilabial stop. [n] would be identified as an alveolar nasal. It would be redundant to mention voicing here since the feature [+voice] always applies to nasals in English.

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