Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T04:30:34.019Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A criticism of distinctive features

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Robert D. Wilson
Robert D. Wilson
Affiliation:
English Department, University of California, Los Angeles
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The relationship between segment and sound is a central concern of phonology.1 A framework for the definition of this relationship is that of distinctive features - proposed by Roman Jakobson and developed by Morris Halle. This framework may be looked at as having two parts: the substantive and the formal. The substantive is made up of the small number of features which, it is claimed (Halle, 1957: 67 ff.), are all that are necessary for describing all the languages of the world - fifteen by the latest count (Halle, 1964a: 329). The formal consists of a number of concepts which appear to have contributed to the definition of the relationship between segment and sound in transformational theory (Chomsky, 1964: 86). Only incidentally will I be concerned with the substantive part of the framework.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , October 1966 , pp. 195 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1966

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Cherry, C. (1961). On Human Communication. New York: Science Editions.Google Scholar
Cherry, C., Halle, M. & Jakobson, R. (1953). Toward a logical description of languages in their phonemic aspect. Lg. 29. 34–46.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1955). The logical structure of linguistic theory. Mimeographed unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1957). Review of Jakobson & Halle's Fundamentals of Language, IJAL 23. 234–42.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1964). Current issues in linguistic theory. In Fodor & Katz (1964: 50–118).Google Scholar
Fischer-Jorgensen, E. (1958). What can the new techniques of acoustic phonetics contribute to linguistics? Proceedings of the 8th International Congress of Linguists. Oslo: Oslo University Press. 433–80.Google Scholar
Fodor, J. A. & Katz, J. J. (1964). The Structure of Language. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Halle, M. (1954). The strategy of phonemics. Word 10. 197–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halle, M. (1957). In defense of the number two. Studies Presented to Joshua Whatmough. The Hague: Mouton. 65–72.Google Scholar
Halle, M. (1959). The Sound Pattern of Russian. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Halle, M. (1961). On the role of simplicity in linguistic descriptions. Structure of Language and its Mathematical Aspects. Providence: American Mathematical Society. 89–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halle, M. (1964 a). On the bases of phonology. In Fodor & Katz (1964: 324–33).Google Scholar
Halle, M. (1964 b). Phonology in a generative grammar. In Fodor & Katz (1964: 334–52).Google Scholar
Householder, F. W. (1965). On some recent claims in phonological theory. Journal of Linguistics, 1. 13–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jakobson, R. & Halle, M. (1956). Fundamentals of Language. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Jakobson, R. (1958). Typological studies and their contribution to historical comparative linguistics. Proceedings of the 8th International Congress of Linguistics. Oslo: Oslo University Press. 17–25.Google Scholar
Jakobson, R., Fant, C., Gunnar, M. & Halle, M. (1961). Preliminaries to Speech Analysis. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Jakobson, R. (1962). Selected Writings 1: Phonology. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar