Vocalicity

Jakobson and Chomsky use the vowelicity of a speech sound as a phonological distinguishing feature . The distinctive feature is binary . The vowel e [± vok] is contrasted with the consonant [± cons].

A distinction is made between the following acoustic images:

• Vowels [+ vok, - cons]
• real consonants [- vok, + cons]
• Half vowels and glides [- vok, - Kons]
• and (with Jacobson) melting sounds ( liquids ) [+ vok, + cons].

Some authors use the terms "vowel" and " syllable " interchangeably .

background

The vowels are acoustically characterized by a clear formant structure (increasing frequency) and articulatory by an open passage in the pharynx, mouth and nasal passages ( vocal tract or attachment tube).

swell

• R. Jakobson, G. Fant, M. Halle: Preliminaries to Speech Analysis , 1952
• N. Chomsky, M. Halle: The Sound Pattern of English , 1968
• Helmut Glück (Ed.): Metzler-Lexikon Sprach , 2000