Chapter 5: Phonological structure: The Phoneme and its allophones.

Segmental
specification: Distinctive Features in various phono-logical theories
5.1. Individual sounds and classes of sounds. The phoneme and its
contrastive function
5.2. Allophones. Complementary distribution and free variation
5.3. The phonological idiosyncrasy of linguistic systems
5.4. Broad and narrow transcription
5.5. Segmental and suprasegmental phonemes
5.6. From the minimal unit of linguistic analysis to the bundle of
distinctive features
5.7. Jakobson and Halle’s feature system
5.8. Chomsky and Halle’s distinctive features
5.9. Ladefoged’s feature system
5.10. The use of features for segmental specification and for the
description of phonological processes

5.9. Ladefoged’s feature system

Peter Ladefoged, one of the most distinguished phoneticians of the 20th century,
established an equally well-known system of features. The initial highly theoretical
stance was often departed from and a more pragmatic approach was adopted as
phonologists felt the need to adapt their system to the phonetic reality. Ladefoged’s
distinctive features are essentially described in articulatory terms and are not all binary,
many of them being multivalued features. Here follows a succint presentation of
Ladefoged’s feature system:
1. The feature glottalic, in Ladefoged’s words, “specifies the airstream, by
quantifying the movement, if any, oif the glottis.” There are three
phonological possibilities for this feature:
a) [ejective], when the glottis is moving upward;
b) [pulmonic], when there is no movement of the glottis;
c) [implosive], when the glottis moves downward.

2. The feature velaric “specifies the degree of use of velaric airstream

mechanism in a sound”. The phonological possibilities for specifying sounds
are:
a) [+click]
b) [-click]
The feature can then be used as a binary one to distinguish phonemes in
certain languages.

3. The feature voice, for which Ladefoged also suggests the term glottal stricture
describes the degree of approximation of the arytenoid cartilages. (see above
 the subchapter dealing with articulatory phonetics and the physiology of
speech production). Ladefoged identifies five different values for a language
like Beja, spoken in Sudan. However, most languages, he acknowledges, will
only distinguish two values [+ voice] and [-voice] respectively:
a) [glottal stop]
b) [laryngealized]
c) [voice]
d) [murmur]
e) [voiceless]

4. The feature aspiration specifies the relation between voicing and the timing of
articulation or the time of onset of articulation with respect to release of
articulation. There are three values that can establish oppositions:
a) [aspirated]
b) [unaspirated]
c) [voice]
5. The feature place “specifies the distance from the glottis to the first maximum
constriction of the vocal tract”. The maximum number of different places of
articulation that can be found in any language spoken in the world is six.
There are, however, contrasts between adjacent terms [bilabial] and
[labiodental], [labiodental] and [dental], so Lagdefoged establishes eleven
values for this feature:
a) [bilabial]
b) [labiodental]
c) [dental]
d) [alveolar]
e) [retroflex]
f) [palato-alveolar]
g) [palatal]
h) [velar]
i) [uvular]
j) [pharyngeal]
k) [glottal]

6. The feature labial describes the degree of approximation of the centres of the
lips. It has two values:
a) [+labial] for sounds like [p, b, m]
b) [-labial]

7. The feature stop or articulatory stricture refers to the degree of articulatory

closure. Ladefoged differentiates between three phonological possibilities fot
this feature:
a) [stop]
 b) [fricative]
c) [approximant]

8. The feature nasal refers to the degree of lowering of the soft palate. There are
two phonological possibilities for this feature:
a) [+nasal]
b) [-nasal]
9. The feature lateral measures the degree of laterality or the proportion of the
airstream that is flowing over the side of the tongue. Languages distinguish
between two values:
a) [+lateral]
b) [-lateral]

10. The feature trill refers to the degree of vibration of an articulator. As an

articulator can be either vibrating or not vibrating there can be only two
values, respectively:
a) [+trill]
b) [-trill]

11. The feature tap has as a possible scale the rate of move-ment of an articulator.
It is also described in binary terms, as having two values:
a) [+tap]
b) [-tap]

12. The feature sonorant, as described by Ladefoged differs from the others as it
is defined in acoustic and not “physiological” (i.e. articulatory) terms. Like the
preceding features it has two values:
a) [+sonorant]
b) [-sonorant]
With the help of this feature, Ladefoged explains the peculiar situation of
consonants that become syllabic in English. Thus, if a [+sonorant] is
distributed in final position after a [stop] or a [fricative] it becomes
[+syllabic].

13. The feature sibilant is defined in acoustic terms as specifing the amount of
high-frequency energy and making a difference between dental fricatives on
the one hand [f, v, θ, ƒ] and alveolar and palato-alveolar fricatives [s, z, •, ¥]
on the other hand. It explains vowel epenthesis in the plural or the third person
singular of the presnt indicative of English verbs, the vowel being inserted if
the last sound before the affix is a [+sibilant] sound. There are then two values
for this feature:
a) [+ sibilant]
b) [-sibilant]
 14. The feature grave is also acoustically based and “specifies the amount of
acoustic energies in the lower as opposed to the upper frequencies”. As we
have showed above in the subchapter devoted to the acoustic features of
sounds, this feature differentiates between consonants articulated at the
extremities of the vocal tract (labials and velars) that are [+grave] and alveolar
and palato-alveolar consonants that are [-grave]. Ladefoged explains the
diachronic transformation of the Old English velar fricative [x] into the
Modern English labio-dental [f] in words like rough and tough by the
similarity between the two classes of fricatives that are both [+grave]. There is
no articulatory reason for which such change should have happened and it is
only in acoustic terms that we can account for it, he argues.1 There are two
values for the feature:
a) [+grave]
b) [-grave]

15. The feature height was introduced by Ladefoged to differentiate among

vowels. It is a feature that does not normally lend itself to a binary
interpretation as there are several degrees of aperture that are relevant for
vowel description. In most languages there are at least three values.
Ladefoged lists four:
a) [4 height]
b) [3 height]
c) [2 height]
d) [1 height]
As he remarks, the physical scale corresponding to the vowel height in
articulatory terms is the inverse of the frequency of the first formant.

16. The feature back is applied for vowel specification and can be defined in
acoustic terms as the inverse of the difference between the frequency of
formant two and that of formant one. Vowels are generally distinguished in
terms of the binarity:
a) [+ back]
b) [-back]
though Ladefoged acknowledges the possibility of a ternary distinction:
[front], [central] and [back].

17. Round is another feature used for the specification of vowels and it refers to
the degree of rounding of the lips. As in English the feature [+back] is

1
For an interesting discussion of a similar change in Romanian see Andrei Avram, Probleme de
etimologie, 2000, p. 37 ff. The change of po- into co- in Romanian is explained by the two plosives, the
labial [p] and the velar [k] sharing the feature [+grave].
 associated with [+round], that is, if we know that a vowel is [+back] we can
safely predict that it is also [+round] (with the exception of the vowel [Y:] that
is [+back] but [-round]) the feature is redundant for English vowels. The
feature is binary and its values are:
a) [+back]
b) [-back]

18. The feature wide describes variations in the width of the pharynx.and is a
binary feature, too, its values being:
a) [+wide]
b) [-wide]
Ladefoged describes it as being predictable from the values of other features,
for instance height.
19. Another essentially vocalic feature is rhotacized. It mea-sures an acoustic
property, namely the lowering of the frequency of the third formant. It has two
specifications:
a) [+rhotacized]
b) [-rhotacized]

20. The last feature in Ladefoged’s system is syllabic. It has no

corresponding physical scale. It has two values:
a) [+syllabic]
b) [-syllabic]