Lecture 6 The consonant system of English

№	Binary acoustic features
Articulatory correlates
	Vocalic/ non-vocalic	a periodic excitation and constriction/non-periodic
	Consonantal /non-consonantal	excitation and obstruction in oral cavity produced with occlusion of contact / with lesser degrees of narrowing
	Compact/diffuse	palatal, velar, guttural /labial/ dental, alveolar consonants opposition
	Grave/acute	labial, velar/dental, alveolar, palatal
	Flat/plain (non-flat)	labial/non-labial
	Nasal/oral	nasal/oral
	Discontinuous/continuant	stops (plosives), affricates/fricatives, liquids, glides
	Voiced /voiceless	voiced/voiceless
	trident/mellow	noisy fricatives (labio-dental, alveolar, alveo-palatal affricate)/less noisy fricatives (interdental, palatal, velar), plosives, glides, liquids
	Checked/unchecked	glottalization/non-glottalization
	Tense/lax	fortis/lenis
	Sharp/plain (non-sharp)	palatalized/non-palatalized (in Russian)

4. Dichotomic Classification of the Acoustic Distinctive Features of English

• Usually American linguists regard the semivowels /j/, /w/ to be positional variants of the lax vowels /i/, /u/, respectively. Thus, this binary classification has restrictions on these four classes. Besides, correlation between the acoustic and the articulatory classification is not very clear in this theory. In spite of the fact that the binary classification of the acoustic features has some shortcomings, it is often used as a universal framework in the description of the distinctive features of phonemes without any experimental research. It is useful to use the binary classification of the acoustic distinctive features after instrumental investigations, as the latter is helpful in making a correct classification.

5.Consonant Phonemes and its Articulatory Correlates

• Over the years a variety of explanations have been proposed for the effect of consonant voicing state on preceding vowel length (hereafter referred to as the vowel-length effeCt or VLE). Although the specific content of these explanations varies considerably, almost all of them can be described as production oriented: the VLE is assumed to result from physiological constraints on articulation, phonation, or some combination of both.
• Belasco (1953) proposed the following explanation of the VLE: (I) Greater "physiological energy" or "articulatory force" is required to produce a voiceless (fortis) consonant than a homorganic voiced (Ienis) consonant. "The anticipation of a consonant requiring a 'strong' force of articulation will tend to shorten the preceding vowel since more of the total energy needed to produce the syllable is concentrated in the consonant" (p. 1016).