Exam 1: Theory 1: Distinctive Feature

Question 1

What did Distinctive Feature Theory do for speech sounds?

Answer 1

1. Allowed the classification of speech sounds according to place, manner, and voice (where place, manner, and voice originated).
2. The distinctive features of each sound help in its identification given the characteristics of place, manner, and voice.
3. The basic unit in this theory is the feature (not the phoneme) which can’t be broken down into further units.

Question 2

What are features considered to be (2)?

Answer 2

Binary - the phoneme either has (+) or doesn’t have (-) a particular feature.

Features are considered to be abstract mental notions.

Question 3

What do the proponents of the Distinctive Feature Theory believe?

Answer 3

Proponents of this theory believe that speech sounds are stored in the brain as “bundles of features.”

Question 4

Why are features called “distinctive” in the Distinctive Feature Theory?

Answer 4

Because the features allow us to distinguish among phonemes.

Question 5

Each member of every pair of phones is distinguished from the other member by…

Answer 5

At least one feature value

Question 6

Features are said to be universal, but a given language may use a subset of features as what?

Answer 6

Distinctive

Question 7

List what distinctive features are as applied to phonology (4).

Answer 7

1. Subunits, smaller than sound segments that can’t be broken down any further.
2. Universal properties of speech sounds.
3. Features that illustrate similarities and differences between phonemes.
4. Binary - they demonstrate whether a feature is present (+) or absent (-).

Question 8

What is a distinctive feature?

Answer 8

A quality which distinguishes one phoneme from another whether it be place, manner, or voice.

Question 9

Distinctive Feature Theory is an attempt to determine what?

Answer 9

An attempt to determine specific properties of a sound that serve to signal meaning differences in a language.

Question 10

Who was the major proponent of Distinctive Feature Theory?

Answer 10

Roman Jackobson

Question 11

Clinically, why was Distinctive Feature Theory developed?

Answer 11

Developed as a means of analyzing phonemes and phoneme systems of a language.

Question 12

How can distinctive features be used with a child who is making errors?

Answer 12

If a child can be taught to differentiate between the presence or absence of the features, the error sounds could be easily remediated.

Question 13

Jakobson hypothesized that children acquire features rather than sounds. If so, what could treatment for unlearned features do?

Answer 13

Facilitate the acquiring process for features.