Phone-to-Feature Mapping
From SpeechWiki
Mapping from phones to their canonical gestural feature values
- '*' indicates that a feature is unspecified; e.g. the feature vow for [hh] and [q] or rd for rhotics and palato-alveolar fricatives.
- One phone, [q], can take on either of two values for glo, STOP or IRR.
- All of the phones have pl2 = NONE, dg2 = VOW canonically (though [w] is arguable). However, these features are used in the transcription of non-canonical regions.
- The notes column records other issues that have come up in discussions about specific phones.
- We use a single vowel tier, instead of height and front-back features; height and front-back fail to distinguish certain vowel sets and were found to be hard to use in practice when transcribing. For your reference, height and front-back features are shown in the vowel diagram below.
- This mapping is Set 6; To see how our feature sets have evolved, click here.
| phn | pl1 | dg1 | pl2 | dg2 | nas | rd | glo | vow | IPA | examples, notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| aa | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | aa | ɑ | as in "bob" |
| ae | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | ae | æ | as in "bat" |
| ah | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | ah | ʌ | as in "but" |
| ao | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | + | VOI | ao | ɔ | as in "bought" |
| aw1 | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | aw1 | aʊ | 1st articulatory configuration of the diphthong in "bout" |
| aw2 | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | + | VOI | aw2 | aʊ | 2nd articulatory configuration of the diphthong in "bout" |
| ax | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | ax | ə | 1st vowel in "about" |
| axr | RHO | APP | NONE | VOW | - | * | VOI | axr | ɚ | as in end of "butter"; note: features same as [r], [er]? |
| ay1 | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | ay1 | aɪ | 1st articulatory configuration of the diphthong in "bite" |
| ay2 | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | ay2 | aɪ | 2nd articulatory configuration of the diphthong in "bite" |
| b | LAB | BUR | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | N/A | b | burst only |
| bcl | LAB | CLO | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | N/A | closure only | |
| ch | P-A | FRIC | NONE | VOW | - | * | VL | N/A | ʧ | frication part only of affricate in "chat" (closure part is [dcl]); same features as [sh]; note: rd? |
| d | ALV | BUR | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | N/A | d | burst only |
| dcl | ALV | CLO | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | N/A | closure only | |
| dh | DEN | FRIC | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | N/A | ð | as in "them" |
| dx | ALV | FLAP | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | N/A | ɾ | flap as in "butter" |
| eh | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | eh | ɛ | as in "bet" |
| el | LAT | CLO | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | el | l̩ | syllabic /l/ as in "bottle"; note: vow = N/A? |
| em | LAB | CLO | NONE | VOW | + | - | VOI | em | m̩ | syllabic /m/ as in some productions of "bottom"; note: vow = N/A? |
| en | ALV | CLO | NONE | VOW | + | - | VOI | en | n̩ | syllabic /n/ as in "button"; note: vow = N/A? |
| er | RHO | APP | NONE | VOW | - | * | VOI | er | ɝ | as in "bird"; note: rd? features same as [r], [axr]? |
| ey1 | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | ey1 | eɪ | 1st articulatory configuration of the diphthong in "bait" |
| ey2 | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | ey2 | eɪ | 2nd articulatory configuration of the diphthong in "bait" |
| f | L-D | FRIC | NONE | VOW | - | - | VL | N/A | f | |
| g | VEL | BUR | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | N/A | ɡ | burst only |
| gcl | VEL | CLO | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | N/A | closure only | |
| hh | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | * | ASP | * | h | voiceless aspirant as in "he" |
| ih | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | ih | ɪ | as in "bit" |
| ix | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | ix | ɨ | front schwa, as in some productions of 2nd vowel in "roses" |
| iy | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | iy | i | as in "beet" |
| jh | P-A | FRIC | NONE | VOW | - | * | VOI | N/A | ʤ | frication part only of palato-alveolar affricate in "jot" (closure part is [dcl]); same features as [zh]; note: rd? |
| k | VEL | BUR | NONE | VOW | - | - | VL | N/A | kʰ, k | burst only; for the canonical mapping, we are calling the entire burst BUR, i.e. ignoring the aspiration portion in stressed environments |
| kcl | VEL | CLO | NONE | VOW | - | - | VL | N/A | closure only | |
| l | LAT | CLO | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | N/A | l, ɫ | |
| m | LAB | CLO | NONE | VOW | + | - | VOI | N/A | m | |
| n | ALV | CLO | NONE | VOW | + | - | VOI | N/A | n | |
| nx | ALV | FLAP | NONE | VOW | + | - | VOI | N/A | ɾ̃ | nasal flap, as in some productions of "winter" or "winner" |
| ng | VEL | CLO | NONE | VOW | + | - | VOI | N/A | ŋ | as in "bang" |
| ow1 | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | + | VOI | ow1 | oʊ | 1st articulatory configuration of the diphthong in "boat" |
| ow2 | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | + | VOI | ow2 | oʊ | 2nd articulatory configuration of the diphthong in "boat" |
| oy1 | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | + | VOI | oy1 | oɪ, ɔɪ | 1st articulatory configuration of the diphthong in "boy" |
| oy2 | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | oy2 | oɪ, ɔɪ | 2nd articulatory configuration of the diphthong in "boy" |
| p | LAB | BUR | NONE | VOW | - | - | VL | N/A | pʰ, p | burst only; see note for [k] |
| pcl | LAB | CLO | NONE | VOW | - | - | VL | N/A | closure only | |
| q | GLO | CLO | NONE | VOW | - | - | STOP/IRR | * | ʔ | glottal stop; note: VOI?, unspecified vow? [Used to be ST/IRR; changed it here and above.-AB,7/14/06] |
| r | RHO | APP | NONE | VOW | - | * | VOI | N/A | ɹ | as in "run"; rd? |
| s | ALV | FRIC | NONE | VOW | - | - | VL | N/A | s | |
| sh | P-A | FRIC | NONE | VOW | - | * | VL | N/A | ʃ | rd? |
| t | ALV | BUR | NONE | VOW | - | - | VL | N/A | tʰ, t | burst only; see note for [k] |
| tcl | ALV | CLO | NONE | VOW | - | - | VL | N/A | closure only | |
| th | DEN | FRIC | NONE | VOW | - | - | VL | N/A | θ | as in "thin" |
| uh | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | + | VOI | uh | ʊ | as in "book" |
| uw | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | + | VOI | uw | u | as in "boot" |
| ux | NONE | VOW | NONE | VOW | - | + | VOI | ux | (j)u, ʉ | fronted /uw/ as in some productions of "too"; same as German ü or vowel in French "sur" |
| v | L-D | FRIC | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | N/A | v | |
| w | LAB | APP | NONE | VOW | - | + | VOI | N/A | w | pl2 = VEL, dg2 = APP? |
| y | P-A | APP | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | N/A | j | as in "yet" |
| z | ALV | FRIC | NONE | VOW | - | - | VOI | N/A | z | |
| zh | P-A | FRIC | NONE | VOW | - | * | VOI | N/A | ʒ | as in "measure"; note: rd? |
| sil | SIL | SIL | SIL | SIL | - | - | VL | N/A | Used to have pl2 = NONE, dg2 = VOW;why, I have no idea. So I changed it to SIL for all 4 pl/dg features. | |
| xxx | xxx | xxx | xxx | xxx | xxx | xxx | xxx | xxx | any non-speech regions. e.g., laughter, inhalation. |
Vowel diagram
