[continuous]

Definition

Jakobson and Lotz (1949) characterize [continuous] phonemes with a “non-intermitted airstream” and as phonemes that “possess no vocalic feature” (Jakobson & Lotz 1949:430). 

Purpose

The feature [continuous] was introduced to differentiate fricatives from explosives (Jakobson & Lotz 1949:430).

History

Jakobson and Lotz (1949) introduced the opposition [continuous] vs. [intercepted]. These features were quickly abandoned and replaced by Jakobson, Fant, and Halle (1952) with [continuant] and [interrupted].

References

Jakobson, Roman; and John Lotz. 1949. Notes on the French phonemic pattern. Word 5.151-158. Reprinted in 1962 in Selected writings: Vol. 1: Phonological studies, ed. by Roman Jakobson, 426-434. ’S-Gravenhage: Mouton.

Jakobson, Roman; Gunnar Fant; and Morris Halle. 1952. Preliminaries to speech analysis: The distinctive features and their correlates. (MIT Acoustic Laboratory Technical Report 13). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 

Author

Ainsley Graf