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

5.10. The use of features for segmental specification and for the
description of phonological processes

The features were not devised, construed and described just for the sake of
enriching the conceptual inventory handled by phoneticians and phonologists. From the
very beginning they were meant to adequately describe the segmental units at the
phonological level and to cast light on various phonological alternations or changes. The
description of a segment should include as many features as necessary to keep it apart
from any other segment in the language. The overall number of features itself was
considered to be the minimal set needed to provide distinct descriptions for each and
every phoneme of the language (in other words, no two different segments should get the
same description). Segments were considered combinations (bundles) of features, each
feature working as a bipolar axis along which an opposition could be achieved. Thus, if
/p/ can be contrasted to /b/ along the feature [+/- voiced], both labial plosives can be
contrasted to another labial stop, /m/, along the feature [+/- nasal]. The complete
specification of a segment was only used to keep it apart from any other phoneme in the
language. Some features, it was noticed, could be, however, inferred from others. For
instance if we know that a segment is [+vocalic] and [-consonantal] (a vowel, that is),
features like [+voiced] automatically result from the previous ones, since we know that
all vowels are voiced. In the case of English vowels we can also add [- nasal] since there
are no nasal vowel phonemes in English, English vowels being only contextually
nasalized. Such features in the specification of a segment that can be inferred from the
others and need not be included in a minimal specification of the respective segment are
called redundant features. A rule that helps us enrich the specification of a segment with
its redundant features is called a redundancy rule.
 The adding, deletion or changing of features during a phonological process
(transformation, change) are considered to be the result of the application of certain
phonological rules. A transformation affects certain elements in a given context. The rule
bringing about that transformation can apply automatically, that is whenever the
conditions for its application are met and then we call about an obligatory change. Other
changes can, however, be optional, that is the application of the rule depends on the rate
of speaking, style, etc. Deletions offer good examples in this respect. The deletion of the
velar before the nasal is obligatory in (k)nife in present-day English, while the deletion of
the final consonant cluster in the conjunction is optional in bread a(nd) butter. There is
an ordering constraint for the application of phonological rules, in other words they don’t
apply at random but only in a certain succession, since the application of a rule can create
the conditions for another rule to apply or, on the contrary, can limit or even block the
application of another rule altogether. In the first case we talk about a feeding order; in
the second case we have a bleeding order.

Here is the commonest way in which the representation of transformations or

structural changes is formalized:
X → Y / A — B
where X is the target of, or the element affected by, the transformation, the arrow
symbolizes the transformation, Y is the result of the transformation, the slash separates
the change proper from the context where it takes place, the dash symbolizing the
position of the changed element, A being its left-hand context, that is whatever precedes
it and B its right-hand context, that is whatever comes after it. To give a concrete
example, if we want to show that n becomes õ if it is followed by k or g we will represent
this transformation thus:
n →õ/ — k
— g
where n is X of our former notation (the element affected by the change), õ is Y, the
result of the transformation, and k and g are B, the right-hand context. Notice that we
disregarded A, the left-hand context, as it is irrelevant for our transformation. The
phonemes will not, however, be represented by their IPA symbols, but distinctive
features will be used instead to specify the respective segments and show what
transformations they undergo. The following chapter, devoted to some of the most
common phonological processes that occur in connected speech will examine in further
detail such changes in terms of the distinctive features that are modified.