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In linguistics, a distinctive feature is the most basic unit of phonological structure that distinguishes one sound from another within a language.For example, the feature [+voice] distinguishes the two bilabial plosives: [p] and [b] (i.e., it makes the two plosives distinct from one another).
Each feature is a quality or characteristic of the natural class, such as voice or manner. A unique combination of features defines a phoneme. Examples of phonemic or distinctive features are: [+/- voice], [+/- ATR] (binary features) and [ CORONAL] (a unary feature; also a place feature).
Measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT) is a technical branch of intelligence gathering, which serves to detect, track, identify or describe the distinctive characteristics (signatures) of fixed or dynamic target sources. This often includes radar intelligence, acoustic intelligence, nuclear intelligence, and chemical and biological ...
Phonological rules are often written using distinctive features, which are (supposedly [note 3]) natural characteristics that describe the acoustic and articulatory makeup of a sound; by selecting a particular bundle, or "matrix," of features, it is possible to represent a group of sounds that form a natural class and pattern together in ...
Hockett's Design Features are a set of features that characterize human language and set it apart from animal communication. They were defined by linguist Charles F. Hockett in the 1960s. He called these characteristics the design features of language.
Classes are defined by distinctive features having reference to articulatory and acoustic phonetic properties, [2] including manners of articulation, places of articulation, voicing, and continuance. For example, the set containing the sounds /p/, /t/, and /k/ is a natural class of voiceless stops in American Standard English.
Feature geometry is a phonological theory which represents distinctive features as a structured hierarchy rather than a matrix or a set. Feature geometry grew out of autosegmental phonology, which emphasizes the autonomous nature of distinctive features and the non-uniform relationships among them. Feature geometry recognizes that some sets of ...
In phonology, a minimal pair is a pair of words or phrases that differs by only one phoneme, the smallest distinctive unit of the sound system. Even so, phonemes may differ on several phonetic features. For example, the English phonemes /p/ and /b/ in the words pin and bin feature different voicing, aspiration, and muscular tension.