Using
the phonetic properties or features provided in chapter 6 and the additional
features in this chapter, we can provide feature matrices for all phonemes in
English using the + or value for each future. One then can easily identify the
members of each class of phonemes by selecting all the segments marked + or for
a single feature. Thus, the class of stops, /p, b, m, t, d, n, k, g, n, tʃ, dʒ/,
are those phoneme marked [- continuant] on the consonant chart (table 7.5); the
class of high vowels, /i, ɪ, u, ɔ, ʊ/, are marked [+ high] in the following
vowel feature chart (table 7.4)
Note : The [+ voicing] feature value is redundant for
English nasals, laterals, and glides (except for /h/) and could have been left
blank for this reason. The feature specifications for [+_ coronal] and [+_
sibilant] are also redundant. These redundant predictable feature
specifications are provide simply to illustrate the segments in these natural
classes. Note that we have not included the allophones [ph, th, kh ], since the
aspiration is predictable at the beginning of syllables and these phones are
not distinct phonemes in English.
