1. Part Two Distinctive features and Natural classes Phonology: The study of the sound system - i.e. how sounds relate to and interact with each other in a language.

4. Hypothesis III: The plural suffix {s} is voiced if it follows a voiced sound, and voiceless if it follows a voiceless sound. OR: The plural suffix {s} agrees with the preceding sound with respect to the feature [+voice].

5.  natural class: a group of sounds which share one or more distinctive features and exhibit certain common patterns of behaviour. distinctive feature: a minimal contrastive unit which plays a part in building up the sound system of a language, e.g. [+voice] (possessing the property of voicing) and [-voice] (not possessing this property).

6. DISTINCTIVE FEATURES FOR ENGLISH 1) [+sonorant] ([+son]): produced with a relatively free airflow. 2) [+consonantal] ([+cons]): produced with a major or sharp obstruction in the oral cavity. 3) [+stop]: produced with a complete closure in the oral cavity. 4) [+continuant] ([+cont]): produced without a complete closure at the centre of the oral cavity. 5) [+nasal]: produced with the velum lowered, such that air escapes through the nose. 6) [+voice]: produced with the vocal cords in vibration.

7. 1) [p]: The lips are tightly closed, shutting off airflow through the oral cavity; the velum is raised; the vocal cords do not vibrate. ANSWER: [ son], [ cons], [ stop], [ cont], [ nasal], [ voice] 2) [v]: The upper teeth are in loose contact with the lower lip, allowing air to escape with audible friction; the velum is raised; the vocal cords vibrate. ANSWER: [ son], [ cons], [ stop], [ cont], [ nasal], [ voice]

8. 3) [n]: The tip and blade of the tongue are in contact with the alveolar ridge, shutting off airflow through the oral cavity; the velum is lowered, allowing air to escape through the nasal cavity; the vocal cords vibrate. ANSWER: [ son], [ cons], [ stop], [ cont], [ nasal], [ voice] 4) [l]: The tip and blade of the tongue are in contact with the centre of the alveolar ridge, shutting off airflow through the centre of the oral cavity; the sides of the tongue are lowered, allowing air to escape smoothly through the mouth; the velum is raised; the vocal cords vibrate. ANSWER: [ son], [ cons], [ stop], [ cont], [ nasal], [ voice]

9. 5) [i:]: The tongue body is advanced and raised, but not enough to cause obstruction to the airflow, which proceeds smoothly; the velum is raised; the vocal cords vibrate. ANSWER: [ son], [ cons], [ stop], [ cont], [ nasal], [ voice]

10. 7) [+coronal] ([+cor]): produced with the tip and blade of the tongue raised from its neutral position. 8) [+front]: produced with the body of the tongue advanced from its neutral position. 9) [+back]: produced with the body of the tongue retracted from its neutral position. 10) [+high]: produced with the body of the tongue raised above its neutral position. 11) [+low]: produced with the body of the tongue lowered from its neutral position.

11. 12) [+labial] ([+lab]): produced with the use of one or both lips. 13) [+round]: produced with the lips assuming a rounded shape. 14) [+dental] ([+dent]): produced with the tip of the tongue or the lower lip against the upper teeth. 15) [+tense]: produced with a relatively strong muscular effort, involving greater movements of the articulators from their neutral positions.

12. Exercise 2 Five of the above features -- [cor], [front], [back], [high], [low] – refer to various positions of the tongue. Try articulating the following sounds, and decide whether each of them is ‘+’ or ‘-‘ with respect to the above features.

13. Distinctive features for [f]: [-son]: because the airflow is not smooth but turbulent; [+cons]: because it is produced with a major obstruction in the oral cavity (formed in this case by the teeth and lip); [-stop]: because there is continuous airflow through the mouth; [+cont]: because there is continuous airflow through the centre of the oral cavity; [-nasal]: because the velum is raised and there is no airflow through the nasal cavity; [-voice]: because the vocal cords do not vibrate; [-cor]: because the tip/blade of the tongue is not raised. [-front]: because the body of the tongue is not advanced; [-back]: because the body of the tongue is not retracted; [-high]: because the body of the tongue is not raised; [-low]: because the body of the tongue is not lowered; [+lab]: because at least one of the lips is involved; [-round]: because the lips are not rounded; [+dent]: because the teeth are involved;

14. DF for [ I] [+son]: because the airflow is smooth; [-cons]: because there is no major obstruction in the oral cavi­ty; [-stop]: because there is continuous airflow through the mouth; [+cont]: because there is continuous airflow through the centre of the oral cavity; [-nasal]: because there is no airflow through the nasal cavity; [+voice]: because the vocal cords vibrate; [-cor]: because the tip/blade of the tongue is not raised. [+front]: because the body of the tongue is advanced; [-back]: because the body of the tongue is not retracted; [+high]: because the body of the tongue is raised; [-low]: because the body of the tongue is not lowered; [-lab]: because the lips are not involved; [-round]: because the lips are not rounded; [-dent]: because the teeth are not involved; [-tense]: because it is produced with relatively low muscular effort and movement (as compared with [i:], which is [+tense]).

15. DF for [n] [+son]: because the airflow is smooth (through the nasal cavity); [+cons]: because there is a major obstruction in the oral cavity; [+stop]: because there is no airflow through the mouth (due to a complete closure in the oral cavity); [-cont]: because there is no airflow through the centre of the oral cavity; [+nasal]: because the velum is lowered and there is airflow through the nasal cavity; [+voice]: because the vocal cords vibrate; [+cor]: because the tip/blade of the tongue is raised. [-front]: because the body of the tongue is not advanced; [-back]: because the body of the tongue is not retracted; [-high]: because the body of the tongue is not raised; [-low]: because the body of the tongue is not lowered; [-lab]: because the lips are not involved; [-round]: because the lips are not rounded; [-dent]: because the teeth are not involved.

16. FEATURE REDUNDANCIES Given one particular feature, we can logically predict certain other features. For example: 1)[+stop]  [+cons], because if a sound is produced with a complete closure in the oral cavity ([+stop]), it must necessarily be produced with a major obstruction ([+consonantal]) 2)[-stop]  [? cons] why can’t we tell? 3)[-cons]  [-stop] how can we tell?

17. Exercise 3 Given the features in Column A, can you logically predict the values (‘+’ or ‘-‘) for the features in Column B? Explain why. AB 4)[+nasal][ son] 5)[+back][ front] 6)[-back][ front] 7)[+front][ back]

18. Redundancy Rules Examples of universal redundancy rules: 1)[+stop] --> [-cont] 2)[+cont] --> [-stop] 3)[+round] --> [+lab] 4)[-lab] --> [-round] 5)[+back] --> [-front] 6)[+front] --> [-back] Examples of redundancy rules specific to English: [+nasal] --> [+stop] [+front] --> [-round] Question: What do these rules tell us about English?

19. Exercise 4 Which of the following combinations of features are logically impossible? Can you explain why? (1) [+stop, +cont] (2) [-stop, -cont] (3) [-lab, +round] (4) [+lab, -round] (5) [+stop, -nasal, +son]

20. Exercise 5 The consonant clusters (a) [tw, dw, kw, gw, sw] are possible in an English syllable, as illustrated by words like twig, dwell, quit, Gwen, and swear, respectively; but the clusters (b) *[bw, pw, fw] are not possible. Can you write a simple ‘rule’ that can account for this phenomenon? (Clue: think of a distinctive feature shared between the consonants in the pairs of sounds in (b) which is not shared between those in (a).)