Distinctive Feature - Manner Features

Manner Features

Manner features: The features that specify the manner of articulation.

1. Continuant features describe the passage of air through the vocal tract. segments are produced without any significant obstruction in the tract, and so air passes through in a continuous stream. segments on the other hand have such an obstruction, and so occlude the air flow at some point of articulation.
2. This feature describes the position of the velum. segments are produced by lowering the velum so that air can pass through the nasal tract. segments conversely are produced with a raised velum, blocking the passages of air to the nasal tract and shunting it to the oral tract.
3. The strident feature applies to obstruents only and refers to a type of friction that is noisier than usual. This is caused by high energy white noise.
4. This feature designates the shape and positioning of the tongue with respect to the oral tract. segments are produced as the center of the tongue rises to contact the roof of the mouth, thereby blocking air from flowing centrally through the oral tract and instead forcing more lateral flow along the lowered side(s) of the tongue.
5. This feature distinguishes stops from affricates. Affricates are designated [+del rel