Chomsky's universal phonological classification - Halle

According to Chomsky and Halle ^[1] at the phonetic level, every sign appears in three forms: articulatory, acoustic and perceptual, in principle, a triple description of the inventory of signs in terms of these levels is possible. However, only the articulation type of features is considered. All signs at the phonetic level are, as indeed in the theory of Jacobson , Halle, Fant, binary . There are a significant number of innovations that markedly distinguish this system from traditional articulation feature systems. These innovations are mainly associated with new ideas about the process of speech formation and with the expansion of typological phonetic knowledge. The authors also assume a systematic organization of the inventory of attributes: the attributes are combined into groups between which there is a hierarchy, expressed by the order of presentation.

The mechanism of speech production, which is the basis for the interpretation of a number of signs, is as follows. The movement of articulators unfolds against the background of their initial state ( neutral position ), adopted by the speaker immediately before the act of speech . The neutral position, in contrast to the position of calm breathing, is characterized by the raising of the soft palate (this leads to the closure of the nasal passage), the advancement of the tongue body, the reduction of the vocal cords and the creation of intrapulmonary pressure that exceeds the outside atmospheric (speech is said to be exhaled).

In the absence of significant narrowing in the vocal tract, the air pressure in it is equal to atmospheric, and the air flow due to the pressure difference under and above the vocal cords causes them to oscillate automatically without special adjustment from the neutral position. In the presence of a significant narrowing, spontaneous voiding is impossible, since the pressure above the ligaments increases due to air retention in the vocal tract, and the pressure difference becomes insufficient for automatic vibrations of the ligaments to occur when they are neutral.

The behavior of the vocal tract in speech can be represented as an alternation of closures and openings. During the phase of closure, the flow of air from the lungs is partially or completely blocked and the pressure in the tract increases, during the phase of opening the air passes freely. The general circuit of closing-opening has three different aspects characterized by individual features; these signs define the splitting of sounds into main classes.

Sleepy - Non- Sleepy

Sonorous sounds are characterized by the absence of significant narrowing in the vocal tract, which leads to their spontaneous sonication (if the neutral position of the ligaments is maintained). Noisy sounds, on the contrary, are produced with a significant narrowing of the air passage, which makes their spontaneous sounding impossible. The critical degree of narrowing, at which such voicing is still possible, has glides j and w. Thus, vowels, smooths, glides, and nasal consonants are classified as sonorous.

Vocal - Non- Vocal

The narrowing of the air passage in the oral cavity during the production of vowels i and u is taken as the limit for vocal sounds, the second condition is the neutral position of the vocal cords, allowing spontaneous voicing. Thus, vocal and smooth vowels are related to vocal. Non-vocal sounds include sounds that do not satisfy one or both of these conditions: glides, nasal and noisy consonants.

Consonant - non- consonant

Consonant sounds are produced with a significant obstacle in the area of ​​the axial line of the vocal tract. such an obstacle may, however, be combined with an air passage sufficient for spontaneous sounding (sounds r and i). The consonants, therefore, include nasal and noisy consonants, as well as smooth ones .

Under this name are combined the signs characterizing the configuration of the vocal tract, that is, the signs that determine the spatial localization of the speech organs and their shape, and thereby the resonant cavities of the vocal tract are formed when pronouncing sounds.

Signs of major narrowing zones

These signs divide the vocal tract into zones of action of the three main articulators: lips, front of the tongue and body of the tongue. In the anterolingual zone, the palate-alveolar subzone stands out.

Front-Language - Non-Front Language

When pronouncing anterior lingual sounds - dental , alveolar and palate-alveolar (hissing) - the front part of the tongue is raised from a neutral position in the direction of the corresponding articulation areas. When pronouncing non-pre-lingual-labial, the front of the tongue remains in a neutral position.

Front-non-front

When pronouncing the front sounds, the obstruction is localized in front of the palate-alveolar region of the mouth — these are labial, dental, and alveolar. Thus, all vowels, as well as palato-alveolar, palatal , velar , uvular and pharyngeal consonants, belong to non-precursors.

Distributed-Unallocated

Signs related to the body of the tongue

In Chomsky and Halle, common signs characterize the position of the body of the tongue for vowels and consonants, finding significant parallelism in the articulation of the front vowels and palatal consonants, on the one hand, the rear vowels and velar consonants, on the other. These signs characterize the displacement of the body of the tongue from a neutral position.

High - Low

Low-Low

Rear-Rear

Signs related to the lips

Rugged-unbroken

The rounded sign is observed when pronouncing vowels (o), (y). The remaining vowels in Russian are pronounced with an unlabeled attribute. For example: with u hoy, with about the lap - ruined; c a har, c e rvant - unbroken.

• Kodzasov S.V., O.F. Krivnova. General phonetics. M; 2001.
• Chomsky N., Halle M. The sound pattern of English. NY, 1968.