KEY TERMS

1. observation

2. predictions

3. features

4. natural classes

PREVIEW

This chapter explores the theory for representing language sounds as symbolic units. You will:

• see that sounds are defined in terms of a fixed set of universal features

• learn the phonetic definitions of features, and how to assign feature values to segments based on phonetic properties

• understand how phonological rules are formalized in terms of those features

• see how these features makes predictions about possible sounds and rules in human language

The discussion of sound systems has, up to this point, been conducted without attention to what sounds as cognitive units are made of. We have treated them as letters, labeled by tradiational articulatory descriptions. It is time now to raise a fundamental question: are segments analyzed into “parts” that define them, or are they truly atomic – units which are not further divisible or analyzable?

Scientific questions about speech sounds

One of the scientific questions that can be asked about language is: what is a possible speech sound? Humans can produce many more sounds than those systematically used in language. One limitation on language regards modality – language sounds are produced exclusively within the mouth and nasal passages, in the area between the lips and larynx. No language employs hand-clapping, finger-snapping, or vibrations of air between the hand and cheek caused by release of air from the mouth when obstructed by the palm of the hand (though such a sound can communicate an attitude).