CLASSES AND FEATURES

Discussant:
Ev-Elaine Joy A. Lacaba
A natural class is a group of sounds such as
nasals, vowels, liquids, fricative consonants, or
stops, whose members share one or more
phonetic characteristics. There are limited
number of natural classes in human language.
By comparing the articulatory and acoustic
properties of phones and the processes that
they undergo, linguists have arrived at a set of
features that represent the possible sounds of
human language.
 Features are represented as binary
properties of language. They are
considered to be wholly present or wholly
absent from the articulation of a sound. In
binary representation, [+] means that a
feature is present and [-] means it is
absent.
A segment is represented by lining up the
features vertically and enclosing them in
brackets to show their simultaneous
production. The following example shows the
feature representation for p.
 Features identify classes of sounds, and
processes operate on these classes. For
this reason, we can use features to
represent processes. Nasal assimilation in
vowels, for example, applies in English to
the entire class of vowels, not merely to
one or two isolated members of the class.
Using features to represent English nasal
assimilation, we can state that all [+
syllabic] segments (the class of vowels)
are [+ nasal] (nasal) before the class
that is [- syllabic, + nasal] (the nasal
consonants).
 In addition to their value in making explicit
the effects of processes, features enables us to
distinguish among classes of sounds with many
members. For example, the set of sounds [p],
[t], [č], and [k] can be readily distinguished
from the set [b], [d], [ǰ], and [g] by the feature
[voice] alone.
Table 2.33 Segment differing in a single feature
[-voice] [+voice]
[p] [b]
[t] [d]
[k] [g]
[č] [ǰ]
It will always take more features to describe
any one member of a natural class than it takes
to describe the whole class. For example, [p],
[t], [s], and [č] are all [- voice], but [s] is also
[+ continuant].

Since sounds share various features, they can

belong to several classes at once. The sounds
[b], [v], [z], and [g] are all [+ voice]. At the
same time, [b] and [g] are [- continuant], while
[v] and [z] are [+ continuant].
The vowels [iy] and [uw] are both [+ high],
but only [uw] is [+ round], a feature that it
shares with [ow].
 MAJOR CLASS FEATURES
The first set of features accounts for
differences among the major classes of
segment: vowels, glides, and consonants.

[consonantal] This feature describes all

sounds made with closure in the vocal tract
greater than that needed for glides. The
obstruents (stops, fricatives, and affricatives),
as well as liquids and nasals, are [+
consonantal.
[syllabic] This feature is characteristic of
sounds that can function as the nucleus of a
syllable. This includes all vowels, as well as
nasals, and liquids when they function as
syllables. Glides are never [+ syllabic].

[sonorant] All relatively noise-free sounds

that can be sung on a held pitch are considered
to be [+ sonorant]. This feature thus takes in
vowels, glides, liquids, and nasals, and
excludes obstruent consonants.
[nasal] Consonants, vowels, or glides that are
made with the velum lowered are all [+ nasal].

Combining these binary features enable us to

describe the following classes of sounds:
consonants, vowels, glides, syllabic consonants,
liquids, and nasals.
 PLACE FEATURES
The next set of features describes the places of
articulation.

[anterior] Any sound articulated in front of

the alveopalatal region is considered to be [+
anterior]. This includes the labial, dental, and
alveolar sounds.
[coronal] Any sound articulated with the
tongue tip or blade raised is [+ coronal].
These two features enable us to separate
labials from dentals and alveolars and to
distinguish the class of sounds made in front of
the alveopalatal region those made at or
behind it.
The following features characterize the
placement of the body of the tongue, the area
behind the tip and blade. These features
[high], [low], and [back], are also used to
describe vowels.

[high] Sound produced with the tongue body

raised are considered [+ high]. Palatal and
velar sounds as well as high vowels are all [+
high]
[low] Vowels made with the tongue body distinctly
lowered from a central position in the oral cavity are
[+low]. Both [h] and [Ɂ] are [- low] since they are not
made in the oral cavity.

[back] Any sound articulated behind the palatal

region in the oral cavity is [+ back]. Both [h] and [Ɂ]
are [- back] since they are not made in the oral cavity.
 MANNER FEATURES
The next features characterize various manners of
articulation. They enable us to distinguish among
stops, fricatives, and affricates.

[continuant] Free airflow through the oral cavity

means a sound is [+ continuant]; continuants thus
include vowels, fricative consonants , glides, and r’s;
for l, see the discussion of the feature [lateral]. Nasal
stops are [- continuant] since the airflow is through
the nasal passage, not the mouth.
[delayed released] All and only affricate consonants
such as [č] and [j] are [delayed released]. This
feature describes the slow release from a stop
articulation typical of affricates.

[strident] This feature refers to what we may

subjectively call the relative noisiness of both fricatives
and affricates. It enables us to group certain fricatives
and affricates together into a natural class. In English,
[Ɵ] and [ð] are [- strident], while [f], [v], [š], [ž], [č],
and [ǰ] are [+ strident].
[voice] This feature refers to the state of the glottis. All [+
voice] sounds rae voiced; all [- voice] sounds are voiceless.

[aspirated] This feature distinguishes unaspirated from

aspirated consonants. It refers to a delay in the voicing
onset of a voiced segment following the release phase of a
voiceless consonant.

[lateral] This feature is used to distinguish the lateral

liquids (varieties of l) from the non-lateral liquids (varieties
of r). Both l and r may be considered to be [+ continuant]
in English.
 VOWEL FEATURES
Some of the features used to describe consonants
are also used to describe vowels. Remember that
vowels are made by shaping the body of the
tongue in various ways within the oral cavity. The
tongue body features [high], [low], and [back] are
used to describe the vowels in the same manner as
presented in the traditional articulatory description.
Two other important features must be introduced.

[round] This feature refers to vowels made with

lip rounding, such as [ow] and [uw].
[tense] This feature characterizes vowels that
are generally longer and made with a more
constricted tongue position that that used for
lax vowels. It is used in English to distinguish
between the sets of vowels that are otherwise
described with the same features, such as [iy]
and [ɪ], [ey] and [ε], [uw] and [u], the former
in each case being [+ tense] and the leax
vowels being described as [- tense]

[reduced] This feature refers only to the

vowel schwa [Ə] and distinguishes it from [ʌ].
 SUMMING UP
The study of the sounds of human language is called
phonetics. These sounds are widely transcribed by
means of the International Phonetic Alphabet . The
sounds of language are commonly described as
articulatory and acoustic terms: they fall into three major
types: consonants, vowels, and glides. Sounds may be
voiced or voiceless, and oral or nasal. Consonants are
produced at various places of articulation: labial, dental,
alveolar, alveopalatal, palatal, velar, glottal, and
pharyngeal. At the places of articulation, the airstream is
modified by different manners of articulation and the
resulting sounds are stops, fricatives, or affricates.
Vowels are produced with less drastic closure and
are described with reference to tongue position
(high, low, back, and front), tension (tense or
lax), and lip rounding (rounded or unrounded).
Language also shows suprasegmental
phenomena such as intonation, and stress. A
number of phonetic processes act on natural
classes of sounds in speech, and these classes of
sounds as well as the individual sounds that
make them up can be described in terms of a
finite set of features.