In
linguistics, a distinctive feature is the most basic unit of
phonological structure that may be analyzed in phonological theory. Distinctive features are grouped into categories according to the
natural classes of
segments they describe: major class features, laryngeal features, manner features, and place features. These feature categories in turn are further specified on the basis of the
phonetic properties of the segments in question. Since the inception of the phonological analysis of distinctive features in the
1950's, features traditionally have been specified by assigning them binary values to signify that the segment being described by the feature either possesses that phonetic property or it does not. Therefore, a positive value, [+], denotes the presence of a feature, while a negative value, [-], indicates its absence. However, in recent developments to the theory of distinctive features, phonologists have proposed the existence of single-valued features. These features, called univalent features, can only describe the classes of segments that are said to possess those features, and not the classes that are without them.
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