{"id":532,"date":"2025-06-18T11:34:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T15:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/?p=532"},"modified":"2025-06-18T11:34:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T15:34:14","slug":"anterior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/?p=532","title":{"rendered":"anterior"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[anterior]<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Counterpart<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

[nonanterior]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Feature System<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

SPE Features<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Definition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The feature [anterior] distinguishes sounds made at the front of the mouth (like alveolars) from those made further back (like palato-alveolars), primarily within coronal consonants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Purpose<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The feature [anterior] is used to show whether a sound is made at the front or slightly further back in the mouth. Its main purpose is to help group and tell apart sounds like alveolars \/t s\/ and palato-alveolars \/\u0283\/ especially within coronal sounds. In earlier theories, it also included labials and dentals, but in newer models, [anterior] is mostly used just for coronal consonants to explain how some sounds behave in patterns like harmony or assimilation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The feature [anterior] is seen in The Sound Pattern of English<\/em> (SPE) by Chomsky and Halle (1968) as a binary place feature that distinguished sounds produced with a primary constriction in front of the palato-alveolar region of the vocal tract. Labials, dentals, and alveolars are distinguished as [+anterior] from those produced further back, such as palato-alveolars and velars distinguished as [\u2013anterior]. In this framework, the feature is applied broadly across all consonant classes, based solely on the location of constriction, regardless of the active articulator involved. In the 1980\u2019s SPE\u2019s definition was challenged due to the emergence of feature geometry. Sagey (1986) argues that [anterior] should not apply to all segments equally. Sagey proposes that it be treated as a dependent feature under [coronal], and thus only applicable to segments that involve the front of the tongue. This reanalysis excluded labials and dorsals from being specified for [anterior], which narrowed its scope. Keating (1988) expanded on these ideas, reviewing the arguments for and against maintaining [anterior] as a general feature. Keating (1988) supports the view of Steriade (1987) that says [anterior] is contrastive only among coronal consonants, where it distinguishes alveolar and post-alveolar sibilants. This view was reinforced in analyses involving underspecification theory. Rose and Walker (2011) shifted toward viewing [anterior] as relevant only to coronal segments, reflecting its position as a terminal node in feature geometry and not a general class feature. This evolution marks a significant narrowing in the use and theoretical role of [anterior], from a general place feature in SPE to a contextually defined, dependent feature with limited scope in modern phonological theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Chomsky, Noam & Morris Halle. 1968. The sound pattern of English. New York: Harper & Row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rose, Shannon and Walker Rachel. 2011 Harmony systems in The Handbook of Phonological Theory. 2nd edn. Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keating, Patricia A. 1988. Underspecification in phonetics. Phonology 5(2). 275\u2013292.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sagey, Elizabeth Caroline. 1986. The representation of features and relations in non-linear phonology. Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steriade, Donca. 1987. Locality conditions and feature geometry. In Joyce McDonough & Bernadette Plunkett (eds.), Proceedings of the North East Linguistic Society (NELS) 17, 595\u2013617.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Duanmu, San. 2016. A feature system<\/em>. In A theory of phonological features<\/em>, 104\u2013132. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780199664962.003.0006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bex Colley<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[anterior] Counterpart [nonanterior] Feature System SPE Features Definition The feature [anterior] distinguishes sounds made at the front of the mouth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"disabled","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":534,"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions\/534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}