The Department of Linguistics proudly presents Dr. San Duanmu, Professor at the University of Michigan.  Dr. Duanmu will speak on "A Gesture-Based Feature Theory and its Consequences".

Using the Principle of Contrast, Duanmu (2016) examined two phoneme inventory databases, UPSID and P-base, for the goal of determining a minimally sufficient system of feature that can distinguish all consonants and vowels in the world’s languages. It is found that the set of necessary features is much smaller than previously assumed. In addition, no feature needs more than a binary contrast. Moreover, gesture-based features can yield all necessary distinctions, without the need for acoustic-based, perception-based, or completely abstract features.

The results offer new ways of looking at some age-old controversies. For example, are features or IPA symbols comparable across languages? Are binary features innate, or can they simply emerge? The results also raise some new questions that call for new answers, such as the following:
1.    In gesture-based features, manner features can be performed by different articulators, such as Lip-[+stop] and Tip-[+stop]. Can they really be treated as the same gestures? If not, how do we define sound classes (natural classes) that reply on manner features? For example, [+stop] is commonly used in the rule for the aspiration of [p t k] in English. How do we write this rule without using [+stop]?
2.    Current theories of feature specification (underspecification) suffer from two common problems: (i) failure to yield a solution in some cases and (ii) too many solutions overall. Can gesture-based features avoid such problems?
3.    Why is stress a structural feature, instead of a segmental feature?
4.    If the list of necessary features is smaller than previously assumed, what are examples of unnecessary distinctions the IPA offers and how should we deal with them?

I shall start with an overview of the proposed feature system and then discuss some of its consequences.

References:
Duanmu, San. 2016. A theory of phonological features. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

Funded in part by the GPSAFC and Open to the Graduate Community.