On the atoms of phonological representation

Abstract

AbstractIs the phonetic form of human language underlyingly organized in terms of words, distinctive features, elements, or articulatory gestures? After setting out the basic properties of the two leading responses to this question, couched within Distinctive Feature Theory and Articulatory Phonology, we argue that although the two are essentially interchangeable in many ways, they differ significantly with respect to several important empirical predictions, some resulting from the nature of features and gestures and some from the theoretical frameworks within which they are generally embedded. In both regards Distinctive Feature Theory is to be preferred, insofar as (at least when situated within a conventional generative model such as Rule-Based Phonology) it correctly predicts the distribution of labial vs labiodental consonants; the existence of relativized locality, inversion, enhancement, and suprasegmental processes; autonomy of stricture and manner vs place of articulation; and phonological manipulations of individual segments such as insertion and non-assimilatory mutation.