Lecture 6

The Distinctive Features: Consonants

The Distinctive Features

What is the difference between:

/s/ and /z/? /n/ and /m/? /l/ and /r/?

Although the phoneme is generally regarded as the minimal linguistic unit, we can analyze it as a bundle of certain characteristics, which we call the distinctive features. They can be either articulatory or acoustic in their nature.

Relevant features
Languages may differ in the features they take as essential, so the number of relevant features is LANGUAGE SPECIFIC. Vowels and consonants cannot be described using the same parameters. Therefore, we shall deal separately with the consonantal and vocalic features.

Features used for English consonants

The set of features used for describing the consonants of English is based on the following parameters:
Distinctive type of articulation Distinctive manner of articulation Distinctive point of articulation Distinctive articulator Distinctive voicing Distinctive force of articulation Distinctive phonological composition

1. The distinctive type of articulation (vowels vs. consonants)

This parameter categorizes between two major groups of sounds vowels and consonants. The division into vowels and consonants rests on two distinct principles phonetic (articulatory and acoustic) and phonological (functional).

Articulation of vowels and consonants

Consonants produced with some kind of obstacle that the airstream meets when coming out of the vocal tract. Vowels produced with a free flow of air. Such differences in articulation also result in the different acoustic characteristics between the two major groups of sounds: vowels are uninterrupted musical tones, whose specific vibrations depend on the position of the vocal organs. The acoustic image of vowels in spectrograms is characterized by the presence of formants, parallel black lines which show the typical frequences of each vowel. The spectrogram of consonants depends on the manner in which the sound is produced, so each group of consonants (ploseves, fricatives, affricates or sonorants) has its own specific acoustic characteristics.

Acoustic energy of sounds

Another feature related to the acoustic differences between vowels and consonants is the amount of acoustic energy present in their production: Vowels are characterized by a greater amount of acoustic energy compared to consonants. They are therefore said to contain more sonority, or to be more sonorous. Consonants are produced with a lesser amount of acoustic energy they are less sonorous.

Exceptions

Although the articulatory criterion is rather universal (all vowels are produced without an obstacle, and some sounds are always produced with a complete obstruction to the airstream (e.g. plosives). However, there are some exceptions to this rule. The articulation of the semivowels /j/ and /w/ is very similar to the articulation of the vowels /i:/ and /u:/ respectively, and in a number of positions they are articulated with a free flow of air. Still, they have to be classified as consonants for two reasons:
because they cannot carry a syllable the acoustic energy of semivowels, compared to that of neighbouring vowels, is also rather low.

Phonological criterion

The second criterion of whether a sound is [vocalic] or [consonantal] is functional or phonological. It refers to the function a sound takes within the syllable. The sounds which carry syllables have syllabic function vowels are central in syllables. Consonants, as a rule, are at the marginal positions in the syllable, occupying the left and/or the right edge of the syllable. Exceptions: Certain consonants can function as syllable carriers as well, in which case they are called syllabic consonants. In English, /n/ and /l/ are the most frequent syllabic consonants, when they occur at word endings and are immediately preceded by certain consonats. Examples:
syllabic /n/: button /bVtn/, oven /Vvn/, vision /vIZn/; certainly /s3;tnli/, shouldnt /SUdnt/ syllabic /l/: battle /b&tl/, shuffle /SVfl/, tunnel /tVnl/.

These consonants are still said to be [consonantal], due to their property of being articulated with some kind of obstacle in the vocal tract.

1. The distinctive manner of articulation

Refers to the kind of obstacle created in the oral cavity during the passage of the airstream. Obstacle complete or partial. Complete closure typical in the articulation of plosives. Partial closure can be of two types: 1. in the form of narrowing, or 2. combination of a complete closure at one place and a free flow of air at another place.

Narrowing again can be of two types: (i) close position of two vocal organs articulation is accompanied by friction (fricatives) (ii) approximation two vocal organs approximate each other without actually making contact. Sounds produced in this way are called approximants. Approximants are retroflex /r/, lateral /l/ and semivowels /j, w/. Combination obstacle + lack of obstacle/partial closure: (i) simultaneous nasals, laterals (ii) sequential affricates (closure followed by friction)

Obstruents vs. sonorants

Obstruents plosives, fricatives and affricates: Noise component in the auditory and acoustic signal Voiced vs. voiceless pairs (except /h/ in English). They behave in similar ways in phonological processes (e.g. devoicing rules). Sonorants nasals, lateral, retroflex, semivowels: Articulation: free flow of air at some place in the speech tract Acoustically: vocalic nature; can be pronounced as prolonged sounds No voiced vs. voiceless opposition all VOICED They also behave in similar ways in phonological processes (e.g. devoicing rules).

Plosives

/p, b; t, d; k,g/. also called stops. articulated with a complete closure by which the passage to the airstream is completely blocked. There are three distinct stages in the articulation of plosives:
Closure during which two vocal organs are firmly pressed against each other Compression the air behind the obstacle builds up its pressure, it gets compressed. Release the two vocal organs move away abruptly, the compressed air escape from behind the obstacle with an audible release, called explosion.

In voiceless plosives, the release stage is commonly followed by a [h]-like sound, known as aspiration.

Fricatives
/f, v, T, D, s, z, S, Z, h/. Articulation two vocal organs are brought together, but the air can still escape through this kind of closure. Since the organs are very close to each other, the passage of air between them causes turbulances, known as friction.

Affricates

/tS, dZ/ Articulation: combination of a plosive followed by a fricative. Initial stages of articulation are equivalent to those of plosives (closing stage and compression). Iinstead of an abrupt removal of the vocal organs the obstacle is just gently widened, letting the air escape with friction (the third stage). Sequences /ts, dz; tr, dr/ are articulated in a way similar to affricates (plosive followed by friction) Should they also be regarded as affricates? their distribution is restricted: /ts, dz/ occur at word endings, /tr, dr/ occur word initially and word medially, but not word finally. the native speakers intuition, since most native speakers feel that they are jus sequences of two sounds, and not single phonemes.

Nasals

/m, n, N/. Sometimes called nasal stops, as there is a complete closure at the vocal organs. However, during their articulation the velum is lowered, so that the air can escape freely through the nasal cavity, and therefore there is no pressure built up behind the obstacle in the oral cavity. For this reason the articulation of all nasals can be prolonged, so that one can hum, for example /mmm/, until she/he runs out of breath.

Retroflex

During the articulation of the retroflex /r/ in English the tongue is curled backwards, therefore the name. The tongue does not completely touch the back part of the alveolar ridge, but only comes close to it, or approximates it. This is why /r/ in English is also called approximant. The IPA symbol used for this realization of the phoneme /r/ is [R]. Owing to such articulation the air passes freely through the central part of the tongue, which gives /r/ in English a rather vocalic acoustic character.

Lateral

The only lateral sound in English is /l/. During its articulation the tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge, but the air escapes freely along the sides of the tongue, therefore the name lateral. Such articulation also implies the possibility of articulating it as a prolonged sound, which is also rather vowel-like.

Semivowels

The semivowels of English are /j/ and /w/. Their articulation similar to that of the vowels /i/ and /u:/, without any contact of vocal organs in the oral cavity. Yet, they are much shorter and less prominent than the two vowels, and during their articulation the tongue actually makes a rapid glide from the position of the two vowels /i, u/ towards the position of the following vowel. They are never as prominent as the vowels surrounding them not real vowels in term of their function. Despite their vocalic articulation they never carry a syllable.

More on approximants

Sonorants produced by the approximation of two vocal organs retroflex, lateral and semivowels. Central approximants /r, j, w/ the air flows through the mid part of the vocal tract The lateral sound /l/ is also termed lateral approximant, as the air escapes along the sides of the tongue.

2. The distinctive point of articulation

Refers to the upper speech organ at which the contact is made during the articulation of consonants. Upper lip labial point of articulation /p, b, m, w/. Upper teeth dental point of artiuclation /f, v, T, D/. Alveolar ridge alveolar /t, d, s, z, n, l/. Back part of the alveolar ridge (bordering with the front section of the palate) postalveolar /r/. Back part of the alveolar ridge + front part of the palate palatoalveolar /S, Z, tS, dZ/. Palate palatal sound /j/. Velum velar /k, g, N/. Between the vocal cords glottal /h/.

3. The distinctive articulator

Refers to the lower, movable speech organ active in the articulation of a sound. Lower lip labial sounds: plosives /p, b/, nasal /m/ and fricatives /f, v/. /p, b, m/ - traditionally called bilabial sounds. /f, v/ - labiodental sounds. Tip of the tongue apical sounds: /t, d, T, D, n, l/. Tip and blade of the tongue coronal or laminal sounds /s, z, r/. Tip, blade and a segment of the front part of the tongue apico-corono-frontal sounds: /S, Z, tS, dZ/. Front part of the tongue frontal sound /j/. Back part of the tongue dorsal sounds /k, g, N/. /h/ is articulated at the glottis, so its distinctive articulator is glottal.

4. The distinctive voicing

The feature of voicing refers to the presence or absence of vocal cord vibration. If the vocal cords typically vibrate during the articulation of a sound, this sound is said to be voiced. If the vocal cords are wide apart during the articulation, a voiceless sound is produced. All sonorants are voiced sounds: nasals /m, n, N/, lateral /l/, retroflex /r/ and the semivowels /j, w/ are typically voiced. Within the group of obstruents, a great majority of sounds have [voiced] : [voiceless] opposition, the other distinctive features being identical between the pair. The voiced sounds are: plosives /b, d, g/, fricatives /v, D, z, Z/ and affricate /dZ/. The voiceless sounds are: plosives /p, t, k/, fricatives /f, T, s, S, h/ and affricate /tS/.

5. The distinctive force of articulation

This feature refers to the muscular effort used in the articulation of a sound. Voiceless sounds are produced with more strength, and are therefore called strong or fortis sounds. So, /p, t, k; f, T, s, S, h; tS/ are strong or fortis consonants. Voiced sounds are produced with less articulatory strength they are weak or lenis sounds. All sonorants are lenis, and so are the voiced obstruents /b, d, g; v, D, z, Z; dZ/.

6. The distinctive phonogical composition

According to this feature, consonants are divided into simple and complex sounds. The only complex sounds are affricates, since they contain two distinct segments, the plosive part and the fricative part. All other consonants are distinctively simple.