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Multivalued Features for Consonants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Kay Williamson
Kay Williamson*
Affiliation:
University of Ibadan
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Abstract

This paper argues that features should allow the expression of common phonological processes in such a way that the nature of the process will be formally explicit. Many such phonological processes will require multivalued rather than binary features. The following conventions are proposed: (1) Features are not wholly independent, but interact with each other and with syllable structure; (2) the neutral value of each multivalued feature is somewhere near the center of the scale; (3) more than one value of a feature can occur in the same segment, simultaneously (e.g. double articulations) or sequentially (e.g. affricates). Finally, a set of features for consonants is offered.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 53 , Issue 4 , December 1977 , pp. 843 - 871
Copyright
Copyright © 1977 by Linguistic Society of America

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