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10
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10
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One can think of distinctive features as a set of binary "switches" that all sounds have as part of their mental representation. Every sound has a unique configuration of these "switches". For each sound, some of the switches may be turned on, while others are turned off. Which switches are turned on and which are turned off determine what kind of sound is produced.
To represent these switches, every switch is given a name, such as [voice], [distributed], etc. (See the last section of this lesson for a more complete list of the features)
To represent whether the switch is turned on or off, either a + or - is placed before the name. For example, if the switch [voice] is on, it is represented as [+voice]. If it is off, it is represented as [-voice].
We noted that the consonants in the set 
are all voiced. Therefore, each of the sounds has the feature [+voice], which indicates that the switch [voice] is turned on.
The only real exceptional features are the place features [LABIAL], [CORONAL], [DORSAL], and [RADICAL]. For a number of linguists, these features do not have an on-off switch like other features. Instead, some sounds have the feature, and some don't. The reasons for this, and the implications of this will not be discussed here. You need only remember that these particular features act a little differently.