Distinctive Features

Remember from the section on phonemes that the phoneme is represented by the allophone that has the broadest environment. In this case, the vowels from the set would represent the phonemes , , , , , , .

The other set of vowels represent allophones of those phonemes. When we discussed English stops, we defined the contexts in which the aspirated stops appear and when the unreleased stops appear. We want to do the same here for the vowels .

This is where natural classes come in handy. In order to define where the vowels appear, we simply have to define the features of the natural class of consonants that can follow those vowels. These features should define this class uniquely; that is, the features that define that natural class should not also define the class of consonants that follow the short vowels, as that would defeat the purpose.

So, to begin with let's look at the set of consonants in question in terms of the phonetic classifications that we determined before.

Here's the set of consonants: .

Let's start with Place of Articulation. Do all these consonants share the same Place of Articulation?

Move on to the next section to see the answer.

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Go on to Part 7

Phonology

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