In 

linguistics, a distinctive feature is the most basic unit of phonological structure that may be analyzed
in phonological theory.

1. Distinctive features are grouped into categories according to the natural

classes of segments they describe: major class features, manner features, place features etc.
These feature categories in turn are further specified on the basis of the phonetic properties of
the segments in question
9.1. The distinctive type of articulation
9.2. The distinctive manner of articulation
9. 3. The distinctive height of the tongue
9. 4. The distinctive articulator
9.5. The distinctive force of articulation
9.6. The distinctive degree of length
9. 7. The distinctive composition
Plosives are made by making a complete closure between some point and the vocal tract.
Pressure builds up behind the closure which is released to create sound.
This group includes the sounds of b, p, k, g, t & d
STAGES OF PLOSIVES
The making and duration of the closure is called the closing stage. This stage is accompanied by
1.The stage of compression of the air under pressure,

2. The compressed air is released, escaping abruptly as soon as the closure is released in the
release (explosion stage) and accompanied by a sight explosion = plosives

3. Nasal sounds are made by making a complete closure in the mouth and allowing the air to

escape through the nose. This group includes the sounds /n/ /ng/ /m/

Fricatives are made by moving two vocal organs together to restrict the release of sound.
Affricatives are made by making a complete closure at some point in the mouth, similar to
plosives. However, affricatives differ as the air is released slower than a plosive.  

 English has two affricate phonemes, /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/, often spelled ch and j.

The distinctive height of the tongue
The place of articulation of vowels and semi-vowels is determined by the place of the tongue in
the oral cavity:

 Low: æ (cat), ʌ (fun), ɑ: (car),  ɒ (top), eɪ (wait), eə(hair), aɪ (like), aʊ(mouth), ɔɪ (coin)

 High: /i:/ (need) /u:/ (boot), j, w, r, ɪə, ʊə, aɪ, ɔɪ, eɪ, aʊ, əʊ

 High to mid: /ɪ/ (ship), /ʊ/ (book)

 Mid: e (send), ə (again), ɜ: (heard )ɔ: (talk), eɪ, eə, əʊ, ɪə, eə, ʊə

When the tip of the tongue is involved those sounds are called apical consonants (t,d,θ,ð,n,l)
When the blade of the tongue is involved, coronal or laminal consonants are produced (s, z)
When the back of the tongue is involved dorsals are produced: k, g, ŋ.
Apicocoronofrontal (the tip, blade and the front part of the tongue are activated at the same
time) (ʃ, ʒ, ʧ, ʤ)
Labials make use of the lower lip (p, b, f, v, m)
The distinctive force of articulation
According to this feature, there is a certain muscular effort in pronunciation of some consonants
and from there is the division of strong (fortis) and weak (lenis) consonants. Those that are
pronounced with a stronger breath issue are called strong and weak consonants are those that
are pronounced with less force.

The distinctive degree of length

According to the distinctive degree of length or quantity (duration), the vowels can be divided
into two groups:

a) short vowels

b) long vowels

 Vowels in English usually come in pairs consisting of long and short sounds i.e. contrasting
short vowels i, e, æ, ʌ, ɒ, υ, ə with long vowels i: , ɑ: , ɔ: , ɜ: , u:.

The distinctive composition

This feature is about the composition of the phonemes i.e. whether it consists of one or two
sounds. Some compound consonants in English are called affricates and they consist of a plosive
and fricative. When speaking about vowels, the compound sounds are called diphthongs and
they are described as two vowel symbols. However, short vowels are always monophtongs,
while long vowels are monophtongs or diphthongs depending on their composition.
Finally, a cluster of three vowel elements is called a triphtong and is seen as a sequence of two
phonemes
 1010100101010110010101001 accent

An accent as a speech variety is a way a person pronounces words depending on the

area/country they come from.

Language transfer’ is the transfer of linguistic specifics acquired in the native tongue to the
second or foreign language.
A dialect is a form of language that is spoken by people that belong to a certain area within a
country. Dialects may contain different grammar rules and different vocabulary.
Geographical dialects refer to various areas in which a variety of English is spoken
RP is neither geographical nor social dialect, since in present-day English it is not associated
with any specific region or social circle in Britain
The combination of the nucleus and other accompanying elements is called the tune.

 A tune usually coincides with the major constituents of the sentence, such as subject phrase,
predicate phrase, adverbial phrase.

 The number of tunes (and therefore, of nuclei) in an utterance depends on the speaker’s
attitude. When hesitating or emphasizing, the number tends to be greater.

 The pitch of the nuclear tone tells of the speakers emotions:

 Higher tones express emotions with higher temperature (such as excitement)

 Lower tones express emotions with lower temperature (such as caution)

The primary accent which makes up the nucleus can be:

 High falling (High Fall – HF marked as ˋ),

 Low falling (Low Fall – LF marked as ˎ),

 High rising (High Rise – HR marked as ˊ),

 Low rising (Low Rise – LR marked as ˏ), 

 Falling-rising (Fall-Rise – FR marked as ̌ ),

 Rising-falling (Rise-Fall – RD marked as ̂ ), or

 Level (>)
The secondary accent representing the intonation head may be:

 High (High Head – hh, marked by ̍ ),

 Low (Low Head – lh, marked by  ̩ )

The most important elements of English tone groups are:

The nucleus, which consists of pitch level and pitch diction

The head.
The nucleus is the primary accent realized in a particular utterance.

The head begins with the first syllable bearing a secondary accent.
The primary accent in English occurs only in the last informative word in a sentence (if there is more
than one). This word is the focus of information.
ACCENT
Some syllables are more prominent than others due to a greater force that has been applied for
their articulation, even more by means of tonic changes which occur while they are pronounced.
Such syllables are called accented syllables.
Other syllables are unaccented.

Accent is a relative prominence of a syllable in a word or a group of words or an utterance due to

stress and/or pitch.
Stress is the degree of force used for the pronunciation of a syllable.
The increase of stress is perceived as loudness.
There are two types of stress in English:
strong, which is used in the pronunciation of stressed syllables
weak, which is used in the pronunciation of unstressed syllables.
Pitch is the height of tone, which is reflected as higher or lower frequency of vibration.

Regarding pitch, a syllable may bear:

- Primary accent, if there is a potential change of pitch direction within that syllable. For example,
the tone of a syllable can be rising or falling, which changes the direction of its pitch.

- Secondary accent, if there is a potential change of pitch level.

- Tertiary accent, which consists only of a strong stress, without any changes in pitch.

a stressed syllable is the syllable which has more emphasis than the other syllables in a word. And,
an unstressed syllable is the syllable which we don't emphasize.

Primary accent may be preceded, but never followed, by secondary accent. According to the general
intonation pattern, no important tonic change may follow primary accent.

Secondary accent must be at some distance from primary accent.

At least one unaccented syllable must intervene between secondary and primary accent.

In derivatives, secondary accent may occur on a syllable immediately preceding primary accent.
Awareness of the existence of another, bound morpheme affects its emphasis by stress.
Words that have a varying place of their primary and secondary accent are often called double
stress words.
Stressed and unstressed syllables in connected speech alternate and this alteration is called
RHYTHM.

Rhythm is the combination of stressed and unstressed syllables in the sense of movement in speech,
marked by the stress, timing, and quantity of syllables.
Isochrony is the tendency to equalize the duration of the intervals between stressed syllables.For
such tendency to be achieved, the length of unstressed syllables varies according to their number.

POSITION OF PHONEMES
The position of the phonemes can be classified according to the position in which they appear in a
word, syllable or sense group.

The initial position is called initial and it is the most prominent.

That in the middle is called medial and it is the least prominent.

The position at the end is called final.
A sense group is a group or sequence of words conveying a particular meaning or idea

The articulatory features exist and are used in order to help us understand and know the sounds
along with their general characteristics and some additional.
Regarding the non-distinctiveness, there are twelve non-distinctive features.

They are:

1. Non-distinctive type of articulation

2. Non-distinctive manner of articulation
3. Non-distinctive height of the tongue
4. Non-distinctive articulator(glottal stop)
5. Non-distinctive force of articulation
6. Non-distinctive degree of length
7. Non-distinctive composition
8. Non-distinctive tongue position
9. Non-distinctive degree of voicing
10. Non-distinctive lip position
11. Non-distinctive type of explosion
12. Non-distinctive point of articulation
According to the type of articulation, sounds are generally divided into two main groups: vowels and
consonants.

Vowels are also called vocoids, whereas consonants are also called contoids.

Vocoids are sounds pronounced when there aren’t any closures in the vocal tract.

Contoids are sounds made with a closure in the vocal tract, so that the airstream cannot flow freely.

Vocoids and contoids phonologically follow the language rules and exceptions.

Vowels and consonants are considered as such according to phonetic criteria.

The closure of a contoid can be:

• Complete, when typical contoids are realized (e.g. when plosives are pronounced)

Partial/Incomplete, when the contoidal nature of the sound is less noticeable.

This closure is not complete.
It can be realized as a slight narrowing (e.g. when fricatives are produced).
According to the non-distinctive manner of articulation, sounds can be identified as liquids.

Liquids are consonants produced when there is a partial closure in the mouth, resulting in a vowel-
like consonant.

They are produced when the air passes freely through the mouth (like vocoids), but simultaneously,
a contoidal closure is made at another place in the oral cavity.
The phonemes /l/ and /r/ are considered as liquids.

The phoneme /r/ can be flapped or tapped, which is quite untypical and symbolized as a fish hook
[ɾ]
It occurs when the phoneme /r/ is articulated by a single quick contact of the tip of the tongue
against the alveolar ridge or the upper teeth. It occurs between vowels (e.g. hurry /ˈhʌɾi/), following
thetha and eth (e.g. three /θɾiː/), or after other consonants, especially /b, g/ (e.g. great /gɾeɪt/)

When the semi-voewls are realized as contoids, they are fricatives

The non-distinctive force of articulation refers to the phenomenon called aspiration.

Aspiration occurs when a strong plosive (p,t,k) is followed by a vowel and at the beginning of an
accented syllable.

For a plosive to be aspirated, all these conditions must be fulfilled.

E.g. time [tʰaɪm], pull [pʰʊl].
In articulatory terms, laterals and nasals are always weak, whereas /h/ is strong.

The non-distinctive degree of length refers to duration, i.e. how long a sound lasts.
The duration of vowels changes and is generally reduced when a vowel is followed by a strong
consonant.

The duration of a vowel is lengthened when it is followed by a weak consonant.

This happens regardless of whether the vowel is long or short.
This produces allophonic variations in length.

E.g. bit /bɪt/, bid /bɪd/, beat /biːt/, bead /biːd/.

The phoneme /ɪ/ is slightly shorter in the word bit /bɪt/ than the same phoneme in the word bid
/bɪd/.
The phoneme /iː/ is slightly shorter in the word beat /biːt/ than the same phoneme in the word
bead /biːd/.

The non-distinctive composition refers to vowels.

Since vowels can be simple and compound, the non-distinctive composition refers to diphthongs
and triphthongs.
Diphthongs can be divided into closing and centering.

A closing diphthong is a diphthong that provides a certain closure which appears for the second
element,
i.e. when the second element of a diphthong is closer than the first, an impression of closing is
created.
Closing diphthongs are: /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /əʊ/, and /aʊ/

In centering diphthongs the second element is a central vowel.

They always end in /ə/.
Centering diphthongs are: /ɪə/, /eə/, and /ʊə/.
Centering diphthongs are classified into falling and rising.
Falling diphthongs are /ɪə/and /ʊə/.

English diphthongs are usually realized with the first element more prominent than the second.
The impression of prominence is achieved by means of the length, stress, and openness of the first
element. Such diphthongs are termed falling.

The tongue position as a non-articulatory feature refers to the consonants.

Palatalized (or clear) sounds are produced when the middle of the tongue is raised towards the
hard palate.

Velarized (or dark) sounds are produced when the back of the tongue is raised in the direction of
the soft palate.

The phoneme /l/ is palatalized when immediately followed by a vowel or /j/, e.g. lily /ˈlɪli/, love /lʌv/,
lord /lɔːd/ etc.
The phoneme /l/ is velarized when followed by a consonant, e.g. killed /kɪɫd/, billed /bɪɫd/ etc.

Sounds made when the tip of the tongue is curled back towards the hard palate are termed
retroflex, as in the case of the typical allophone of /r/.

The non-distinctive type of explosion refers to the sudden release of air, therefore to plosives.
The release of air can differ in different situations.

An oral explosion occurs when the closure is suddenly released, so that the pent-up air escapes
through the mouth. It is the common, typical way of producing explosion, e.g. peel, boss, lucky, etc.

A lateral explosion occurs when a plosive is immediately followed by /l/; the closure for the latter
sound is made simultaneously with the closure for the plosive, so that the compressed air has no
possibility of escaping directly through the mouth and is used for the articulation of /l/, e.g. gamble,
battle, eagle, etc.
A nasal explosion occurs when a plosive is followed by a homorganic nasal, i.e. a nasal formed with
the same articulator as the plosive, e.g. in the clusters /bm, pm, tn, dn, kŋ and gŋ/ and in stop me,
sudden, bacon, etc.

An unexploded plosive occurs when a plosive is immediately followed by another plosive, affricate,
or a silence. In these cases, the release is delayed. The listener is hardly able to identify the presence

of the plosive. In such cases, it is best to follow the context. The non-distinctive point of articulation
refers to the consonants.

Labials are contoids which are produced with the upper lip as a point of articulation.
The sounds /b, p, m/ are labials typically.
The sounds /f/ and /v/ may be labial when preceded by /b, p, m/ as in camphoreˈ/kæmfə/ and
triumvirate /traɪˈʌmvɪrɪt/.
For the semi-vowel /w/ the upper lip is brought near the lower lip in all positions. When this
becomes conspicuous and bilabial friction issues, /w/ is considered as a labial.

Dentals are sounds which are produced with the teeth as a point of articulation.
The phonemes /θ/ and /ð/ are always dental, whereas the phonemes /f/ and /v/ are typically
dental.
The phonemes /p, b, m, m/ and /t, d, n, l/ can be untypically dental.

Alveolars are sounds which are produced when the alveolar ridge is the point of articulation. This
central zone is fully exploited for articulation. Thus, most English contoids are aveolars, e.g. /t, d, s,
z, n, l/.

Postalveolars are sounds which are produced by using a part of the tongue at the back of the
alveolar ridge, as in the case of the most common contoid variant of /r/.
All typical alveolars become postalveolars when immediately followed by /r/, e.g. already.
Palatoalveolars are sounds which are produced when a part of the tongue is in contact with the
alveolar ridge, while at the same time another part is raised toward the hard palate. This is in the
articulation of /ʃ, ʒ, ʧ, ʤ/.

Palatals are sounds which are produced when the tongue is raised towards the hard palate. The
only palatal is /j/ in its contoid variant.

Velars are sounds which are produced when the soft palate is used.
These are /k, g, ŋ/ in all positions.

Linking as a phenomenon appears in connector speech. The term refers to a link between a sound
which is generally not articulated in British English speech and we have it only in spelling.
Words whose pronunciations end in centering diphthongs and the vowels /ɑː, ɔː, ɜː, ə/, but are
spelled with a final r, activate the pronunciation of this letter if they are followed by a word
beginning with a vowel.

Gradation refers to function/grammar words.

Function/grammar words belong in the restricted class of the words of speech (auxiliary verbs,
conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns and articles).

They all have grammatical meaning.

Elision is omission of sounds.

In this phonemic variation, one and the same word combinations have two speech variants:

- One with the given sound as a representative phoneme;

- Another without that phoneme.

The variation is conditioned by the condition of the phoneme liable to be dropped in the phonemic
environment.

Thus, elision is a kind of positional phonemic variation.