Primary Features and Their Enhancement in Consonants

Abstract

Among the distinctive features for consonants, we distinguish a set of primary features that are perceptually the most salient. The strength with which a primary feature is manifested in a given sound is influenced by the secondary features that co-occur with it. The features [sonorant], [continuant] and [coronal] are designated as primary, and this designation applies in all of the eight possible configurations in which they occur. The features [anterior] and [lateral] are also designated as primary, but only under restricted conditions. We examine systematically which combinations of secondary features provide maximal enhancement of the acoustic manifestations of the primary features. This analysis leads to an inventory of eleven preferred feature combinations or segments. There is a close fit between this preferred inventory and a list of the most frequently occurring segments in the languages of the world, based on Maddieson 1984. This match constitutes support for the view that the frequently occurring feature combinations in the languages of the world come about because those combinations maximize perceptual distinctiveness through the mechanism of feature enhancement. It is suggested that these concepts of enhancement and of preferred feature combinations are directly relevant to the notion of markedness.