1. Manner of Articulation: How the airflow is obstructed or modified in the vocal tract. This includes:
* Stops: Complete closure of the vocal tract, then sudden release (e.g., /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/).
* Fricatives: Air is forced through a narrow opening, creating friction (e.g., /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/).
* Affricates: Combination of a stop followed by a fricative (e.g., /tʃ/, /dʒ/).
* Nasals: Air escapes through the nose (e.g., /m/, /n/, /ŋ/).
* Liquids: Similar to vowels, but with some obstruction (e.g., /l/, /r/).
* Glides: Similar to vowels, but with quicker transition (e.g., /w/, /j/).
2. Place of Articulation: Where in the vocal tract the airflow is obstructed. This includes:
* Bilabial: Both lips (e.g., /p/, /b/, /m/).
* Labiodental: Lower lip against upper teeth (e.g., /f/, /v/).
* Dental: Tongue against upper teeth (e.g., /θ/, /ð/).
* Alveolar: Tongue against alveolar ridge (e.g., /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/, /r/).
* Palatal: Tongue against hard palate (e.g., /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /j/).
* Velar: Tongue against soft palate (e.g., /k/, /g/, /ŋ/).
* Glottal: Airflow at the vocal cords (e.g., /h/).
3. Voicing: Whether or not the vocal cords are vibrating during articulation.
* Voiced: Vocal cords vibrate (e.g., /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, /z/, /ð/).
* Voiceless: Vocal cords do not vibrate (e.g., /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /s/, /θ/).
4. Other Features:
* Tonal: The pitch of the phoneme changes the meaning of the word (e.g., in Chinese).
* Stress: Emphasis on a syllable, affecting pronunciation.
* Length: How long a phoneme is held.
Combining the Features:
By combining these features, phonemes can be described and differentiated. For example, /t/ is a voiceless alveolar stop, while /d/ is a voiced alveolar stop.
Phoneme Classification Chart:
Phoneme charts often use a table format to visually represent the classification of phonemes based on these features.
Example:
| Manner | Place | Voicing | Phoneme |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | Bilabial | Voiced | /b/ |
| Stop | Bilabial | Voiceless | /p/ |
| Fricative | Alveolar | Voiced | /z/ |
| Fricative | Alveolar | Voiceless | /s/ |
| Nasal | Alveolar | Voiced | /n/ |
This table shows how the features of manner, place, and voicing are used to differentiate between the phonemes /b/, /p/, /z/, /s/, and /n/.
Note: There are variations in phoneme classification systems and the number of features used depending on the language and the specific purpose of the analysis.