PAPER
“DISTINCTIVE AND NONDISTINCTIVE SOUNDS”
Lecturer : Dra. Nurmin F. R. Samola, M.Hum
Compiled by :
Steifi S. L. Rotinsulu
11303215
Class A / Semester III
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS
MANADO STATE UNIVERSITY
2012
PREFACE
I am grateful to all the people who have assisted me in doing this paper.
This paper is a part of material on Phonology. It is designed as an assignments for
semester. It also helps readers to find out references dealing with “Distinctive and
Nondistinctive Sounds in English”.
This Material is taken from several sources.
I hope this paper can be benefit to all the readers. Inputs and criticisms are highly
appreciated due to improvement of the material.
Steifi S. L. Rotinsulu
Distinctive and Nondistinctive sounds
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface …………………………………………………………………………..................... 2
Table of Contents ……………………………………………………………………………. 3
Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
Content ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………….. 11
References ………………………………………………………………………………….. 12
Distinctive and Nondistinctive sounds
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INTRODUCTION
A list of all sounds in a language does not give us information about a very important
aspect of the sound structure of a language: the values that these sounds have to its native
speakers. In every language, certain sounds are considered to be the 'same' sound, even though
they may be phonetically distinct. For example, native speakers of English consider the /
in lay to be the same sound as that in play, even though the former is voiced and the latter
voiceless. And if you ask a native speaker of English how many different sounds are
represented by the italicized letters in the words pin, bin, and spin, he will probably say "two,"
grouping the aspirated [ph] of 'pin' and unaspirated [p] of 'spin' together. Though [ph] and [p]
are phonetically different sounds, native English speakers overlook this difference.
A native speaker of Hindi could not overlook this difference. To a speaker of Hindi,
[ph] is as different from [p] as [ph] is from [ b] to our ears. The difference between aspirated
and unaspirated stops must be kept in mind by Hindi speakers because their language contains
many words that are phonetically identical, except that one word will have an aspirated stop
where the other has an unaspirated stop. A native speaker of English can ignore the difference
between aspirated and unaspirated stops because aspiration will never make a difference in the
meanings of words. If we hear someone say [tap] and d [tæph], we recognize them as variant
pronunciations of the same word lap, not as different words. Because of the different ways in
which [p], [ph] and [b] lead to meaning distinctions in English and Hindi, these sounds have
different values in the phonological systems of the two languages.
In general, speakers will attend to phonetic differences between two sounds only when
the sounds have the ability to change the meaning of a word. Such sounds are said to
be distinctive. In order to determine whether two sounds in a language are distinctive, it is
necessary to identify a minimal pair—a pair of words that differ by a single sound in the same
position, but are otherwise identical. For example, [tæph] and [thip] constitute a minimal pair
in English, in which [æ] and [I] contrast. It is worth noting also that minimal pairs can never
be found for [r] and [l] in Korean because they do not appear in the same positions in words: [
r] appears only between two vowels, while [1] does not appear in this position, And this
observation about the distribution of [r] and [1] is not merely a property of these isolated
examples, but is true of allKorean words containing these sounds. Observations of this sort
play an important role in determining which sounds are considered to be the same by a native
speaker.
Distinctive and Nondistinctive sounds
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CONTENT
Distinctive and Non-Distinctive Sounds
We have discussed the phonological system of a language only from the perspective of whole
sound segments. While traditional approaches to phonology have considered whole sound segments to
be the smallest contrastive units of language, there is considerable evidence suggesting that it is various
properties of sounds rather than whole segments that are the ultimate units of contrast in phonology.
A list of all sounds in a language does not give us information about very important aspect of
the sound structure of a language: the values that these sounds are considered to be the ‘same’ sound,
even though they may be phonetically distinct. For example, native speakers of English consider the l
in lay to be the same sound as that in play, even though the former is voiced and the letters in words
pin, bin, and the second letter in the word spin. He will probably say “two” grouping the aspirated [p h]
of “pin” and unaspirated [p] of “spin” together. Though [ph] and [p] are phonetically different sounds,
native English speakers overlook this difference.
We have seen that there are several phonetic realizations of the contrastive unit we identified
as English /p/, including the aspirated stop [ph], the unaspirated stop [p], and the unreleased stop [p’].
Despite these different phonetics forms or allophones, /p/ is consistently maintained as different from
/b/ by the fact the various phonetic variants. For /p/ are always voiceless while the variants for /b/ are
voiced. Other properties of /p/ and /b/ are quite similar. Both share the bilabial place of articulation and
the stop manner of articulation, but are consistently differentiated by the property of voicing. Voicing
is widespread contrastive unit in the English consonantal system, as illustrated by its role in
differentiating the following pairs of items :
VOICELESS
VOICED
Tip
Dip
Kate
Gate
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Fine
Vine
Sip
Zip
Pill
Bill
Chug
Jug
There are several ways in which we can demonstrate that the contrast between features of
segments is more important than contrast between segments taken as whole units. Certain regularities
of phonological systems are found within sets of segments that all share particular features. The
regularities seem to relate to the features themselves rather than the whole segments. Consider the fact
that the regular plural in English takes three forms, depending on the final segment of the noun to
which is attached. Although we think of the form boys as a single word; it is composed of a noun and
the plural of two morphemes, the noun boy and the regular suffix, written –s. it is significant that the
morpheme PLURAL takes several different phonetic shapes. Each of the following forms is`composed
of a noun and a plural morpheme : books, dogs, buses. These three forms are examples of the regular
plural. All three words obtain the same plural morpheme, but it is pronounced differently in each case ;
first as [s, then as [z], and then something like[Iz]. The [z] form follows a non-sibilant sound that is
characterized by the property of voicing. The [s] variant follows a non-sabilant`sound that shares
property of voicelessness. There is an obvious relationship between the presence or absence of voicing
in the preceding segment and the distribution of voiced [z] and voiceless [s] as realizations of the plural
form, as well as a relationship between sibilancy and the [Iz] realization.
English Consonants and Vowels
Distinctive Features
An alternate way to analyze sounds makes use of the concept of binary or paired
features (a concept that we will encounter again in semantics in Chapter 6) where there is an
opposition between the presence or absence of a feature in a particular sound. A notation is used
for features in which the name of the feature is capitalized and enclosed in square brackets, the
presence of the feature is indicated by a plus sign and its absence by a minus sign. For example,
if we consider the features of voicing and nasality:
/t/
is
[–VOICE]
[–NASAL]
/d/
is
[+VOICE]
[–NASAL]
/n/
is
[+VOICE]
[+NASAL]
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Sometimes, a sound may or may not have a particular feature and is hence ±, e.g.:
/d/
is
[–SYLLABIC]
/æ/
is
[+SYLLABIC]
/n/
is
[±SYLLABIC]
Sounds are analyzed in terms of a unique set, or bundle, of features. Each sound is distinguished
from every other sound by a least one feature, e.g.:
/b/
/m/
[+VOICE]
[+VOICE]
[+LABIAL]
[+LABIAL]
[–NASAL]
[+NASAL]
The sounds of a language can be arranged in a grid or matrix, in which the features
are listed along one axis and the sounds along the other, as we shall see below. Phonological
features are assumed to be universal; that is, there exists only a limited number of features, and
languages select among the possible features and combine them in language-specific ways. The
distinctiveness of the features lies in the fact that they combine both articulatory and acoustic
information. In the speech situation, there is a balance between the needs of the hearer, who
perceives only those features necessary for deciphering the sounds (overlooking many other
features), and the needs of the speaker, who for ease of articulation often omits features of
sounds. Distinctive features are, thus, those features required by both speaker and hearer. While
the inventory of features is continually undergoing revision, we may identify the following
features of consonants, many of which we have encountered before:
[CONSONANTAL]
made with closure in the vocal tract greater than that necessary for
glides, resulting in an impediment in the flow of air
[SONORANT]
involving a regular pattern of vibration and lack of "noise",
musical sounds that can be sung or held on pitch
[SYLLABIC]
functioning as the nucleus of a syllable and potentially carrying
stress
[CONTINUANT]
made with incomplete closure in the oral cavity
[NASAL]
made with the velum lowered
[LATERAL]
made with the lateral flow of air
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[VOICE]
made with vibration of the vocal cords
[SIBILANT]
made with a groove or trough along the center line of the tongue,
resulting in a strong hissing sound
[DELAYED RELEASE] made with the slow release of a stop
For place of articulation, in order to establish a binary opposition, we must introduce some
distinctions that differ from the traditional places such as alveolar or velar:
[ANTERIOR]
made on or in front of the alveolar ridge
[CORONAL]
made with the tip or blade of the tongue raised
[HIGH]
made with the tongue raised in the palatal or velar regions
[BACK]
articulated behind the palatal region
See the feature grid for English consonants below.
p b m t d n k g ŋ f v s z θ ð ʃ ʒ tʃ dʒ l r y w h ʔ
[SYLLABIC]
– – ± – – ±– – ±– – – – – – – – – – ±±– – – –
[CONSONANTAL]
+++ +++++++++++++++ + ++– – – –
[SONORANT]
– – + – – +– – +– – – – – – – – – – ++++ – –
[NASAL]
– – + – – +– – +– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
[ANTERIOR]
+++ +++– – – ++++++– – – – ++– – – –
[CORONAL]
– – – +++– – – – – +++++++ + ++– – – –
[HIGH]
– – – – – – +++– – – – – – – – – – – – ++ – –
[BACK]
– – – – – – +++– – – – – – – – – – – – – + – –
[CONTINUANT]
– – – – – – – – – ++++++++– – ++++ +–
[DELAYED RELEASE] – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – + + – – – – – –
[SIBILANT]
– – – – – – – – – – – ++– – +++ + – – – – – –
[VOICE]
– ++ – ++– ++– +– +– +– +– + ++++ – –
[LATERAL]
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – +– – – – –
Note that all consonants except the glides and /h/ are [+CONSONANTAL]. Nasals, liquids, and
approximants are [+SONORANT], while fricatives, liquids, and approximants are
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[+CONTINUANT]. The four major classes of consonants can be differentiated as follows:
stops
[–CONTINUANT]
nasals
[–SONORANT]
fricatives [+CONTINUANT]
[–CONTINUANT]
[+SONORANT]
approximants [+CONTINUANT]
[–SONORANT]
[+SONORANT]
In respect to place of articulation, labials, labiodentals, dentals, and alveolars are
[+ANTERIOR]; and dentals, alveolars, alveolopalatals are [+CORONAL]. A way of grouping
consonants according to features is as follows:
For vowels, the following features may be identified, which are used along with the place
features [HIGH] and [BACK]:
[LOW]
made with the tongue lowered from the neutral, central position
[ROUND]
produced with lip rounding
[TENSE]
articulated with increased tension in the tongue
[REDUCED]
/ə/
See the feature grid for the basic English vowels below:
i ɪ e ɛ æə ʌ u ʊ o ɔ ɑ
[HIGH]
++– –– – – ++– – –
[LOW]
– – – –+ – – – – – – +
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[BACK]
– – – –– +++++++
[ROUND]
– – – –– – – +++++
[TENSE]
+– +–– – – +– +±+
[REDUCED] – – – – – + – – – – – –
Note that vowels are all [+VOCALIC] (an open oral cavity with voicing) as well as [–
CONSONANTAL, +SONORANT, +VOICE, +CONTINUANT]. The diphthongs /eɪ, ɪu, aɪ, aʊ,
oʊ, ɔɪ/ cannot be distinguished by these features but must be treated as a combination of vowel
+ glide.
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CONCLUSION
1. Distinctive Features
Distinctive Feature : when a feature distinguishes one phoneme from another, it is distinctive
feature. This difference also accounts for the meaning difference. See the following minimal
pairs seal vs zeal , the distinctive feature [voiced] tells [s] from [z]. The two are contrasting
phonemes, but the two are neither allophones nor in complementary distribution. The only
difference is the distinctive feature [voicing] bat/mat, rack/rock, see/zee
2. Non-Distinctive Features
Non distinctive feature are identical phonemes, no different meanings, but just allophones. The
allophones are predictable, redundant, nondistinctive, and nonphonemic.
Example 1 : Nasality
Bean/bead
The nasality feature occur before syllable-word-final nasal consonants. But the nasality doesn’t
contribute to phonemes in English.
Example 2 : Aspiration
a. Possible in the syllable initial position or before a stressed vowel : pill, till, kill, etc.
b. Not possible after a syllable initial /s/ : spill, still, skill
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REFERENCES
http://educationcing.blogspot.com/2012/06/distinctive-and-non-distinctive-sounds.html
http://www.benjamins.com/jbp/series/Z/156/workbook/exercise_2.7.html
https://www.msu.edu/course/asc/232/DF/ACofDFs.html
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