PHONETIC FEATURES

The phonetic features discussed in this chapter occur in various combinations, most of these combinations representing different sound segments of English. To readers encountering such features for the first time, this may seem to be a rather cumbersome way of describing sounds, but it is necessary if linguists are to present complete, accurate, and explicit descnptions of the sounds in human language. People who are unfamiliar with phonetic fea- tures must resort to subjective terms in describing the sounds of a language. They may say that French is "nasal" or that German is guttural or that, in Spanish, there are sounds that "break on the teeth.

"But what do these expressions mean? The fact that we cannot produce the sounds of these languages on the basis of such informal descriptions illustrates that these descriptions are not explicit and certaialy not complete.

However, when the linguist describes the sounds of a language, making use of a carefully defined set of phonetic features, anyone who is familiar with those features can read the description and understand the sounds of the language and how they are produced. Phonetic features also provide a means for identify ing clas- ses of sounds, that is, groups of sounds that share one or more features in common and that native speakers of a language may

ense For example, among the sound segments ls another and differeu ic features provide a way of explicily sating the As uwe shall see, the former class containe recegnise as umilar in secne s y observe tha [p, b, 1, d. k,s) are similar to one o. o, , ..2I The phonet between these two classes of sounds lasses of sounds play an important role in human languages; therefore linguists have a set of phonetic features that make it possible to Ls all I- continuant), while in the laner class, the segments are all t+ a sp it i sary that aormally add the letter s to a singular form in order to produce its plural, bu we add the sounds (s). (z), or z) Which sound is used depends on the la singular form, and the phonetic features enabie the linguist to describe and dependency We return to this subject in Chapter 9, but, for now, the read for example, the Last sound 2.

1 del that phonetic features are of fundamental importance for the descriptionofth oug larguage and for the explanation of how those sounds are used Also note that linguists differ regarding the particular set of features their deseniptions of sounds. Basically, there are two overlapping setsofat traditional structural linguisties and those of contemporary transformational ar eatures Since both are quite widely used, it is necessary to become famuliar wi also mentioned whenever they differ from those that are the basis of the features of the transformational approach, but the traditional f Each phonetic feature represents an activity that is actually carned out byh OBST truct Although you may be unaccustomed to consciously noticing what you doa articulate a sound, you will often be able to determine for yourself the phoncte i involved in the sound segments of English. Examine your vocal tract as you sounds; look at your mouth in a mirror, touch parts of the vocal tract with your observe the vanety of movements involved in the production of speech sou phonetic features discussed below are real; they represent abilities possessed by all cally normal human beings THE LARYNX The larynx is a cartilaginous structure located low in the throat;, it is commonly callad Adam's apple and can be felt by placing the finger tips on the middle region df front of the neck.

The larynx is one of the most important parts of the vocal tract, lor the air stream moves up from the lungs, it must pass through the vocal cords, a par membranes attached horizontally in the larynx The voca! cords are made up of dlu tissue and may be spread apart or pulled together The vocal cords can be pullad togate so tightly that there is no way for an air stream to pass through them. But it is also to constrict the vocal cords while sull leaving a small space between therm through w an air stream can pass Since the space is small, the pressure from the moving air will 2 cause the vocal cords to vibrate.

This is the position assumed by the vocal cords just speech, as well as during the production of many speech sounds Other speach however, are articulated with spread vocal cords. In such cases, the ar stream freely through without causing vibration Vibration of the vocal cords is