{"id":599,"date":"2026-06-16T15:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T19:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/?p=599"},"modified":"2026-06-16T16:11:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T20:11:21","slug":"low","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/?p=599","title":{"rendered":"low"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

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

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

\n

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

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

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

The feature [+low] describes phones produced while lowering the tongue body below the level that it maintains in the neutral position, which is raised and fronted.  Sounds that are [-high] or nonhigh exhibit no such raising.  Sounds cannot be [+low] and [+high] simultaneously because the tongue cannot be lowered and raised in unison (Chomsky & Halle 1968:304).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the use of [low] as a tonal feature, see [low tone]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The feature [low] aims to \u201ccharacterize the placement of the body of the tongue\u201d in the oral cavity (Chomsky & Halle 1968:304).  Among vowels, it distinguishes low vowels from mid and high vowels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Chamorro (Topping 1968, Kenstowicz & Kisseberth 1979:62-65), the low vowels \/\u00e4\/ and \/a\/ neutralize to [\u0259] when unstressed, while front vowels \/i, e\/ alternate with [\u026a], and \/u, o\/ alternate with [\u028a] when unstressed, e.g. d\u00e1g\u028a<\/em> \u2018yam\u2019 and i d\u0259\u0261\u00fahu<\/em> \u2018my yam\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Furthermore, [low] characterizes pharyngeal sounds, which involve a relatively low tongue position, contrasting with consonants articulated with a higher tongue body position.  This predicts a patterning of these sounds along with low vowels, and we find this in the lowerin\u0261 of Classical Arabic i <\/em>lowered to a<\/em> in the environment of a pharyngeal consonant, e.g. (Brame 1970:161). We also see<\/p>\n\n\n\n

this in Tiberian Hebrew\u2019s rule of Guttural Lowering, in which any vowel followed by a tautosyllabic pharyngeal lowers to a, e.g. \/\u0161ame\u0295\/ \u27f6 [\u0161a\u02d0ma\u0295] \u2018he<\/p>\n\n\n\n

heard\u2019 (McCarthy 1994:211-212). Kenstowicz & Kisseberth (1979:250) note<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the phonetic inappropriateness of using [low] for low tongue position in glottals\u0294<\/em> and h<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Jakobsonian features employed [grave], [compact], and [diffuse] to describe both vowels and consonants.  [diffuse] described vowels and consonants in regard to height and anteriority.  Chomsky and Halle (1968) considered this too radical an approach, and thus introduced the distinctive feature [low] to describe tongue body placement as a replacement for [compact] (Chomsky & Halle 1968:306-307).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Brame, Michael K. 1970. Arabic phonology: Implications for phonological theory and historical Semitic<\/em>. Cambridge, MA: MIT dissertation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Kenstowicz, Michael, and Charles Kisseberth. 1979. Generative phonology:<\/em> Description and theory.<\/em> San Diego: Academic Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCarthy, John. 1994. The phonetics and phonology of Semitic pharyngeals.<\/em> Phonological structure and phonetic form: Papers in Laboratory Phonology III<\/em>, ed. by Patricia A. Keating, 191-233. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Topping, Donald. 1968. Chamorro vowel harmony. Oceanic Linguistic<\/em>s 7.67-69.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Rice, Keren. 2002. Vowel place contrasts. Language universals and variation<\/em>, ed. by Mengistu, Amberber, and Peter Collins, 239-269. Westport, CT: Praeger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

[low] Counterpart [nonlow] Feature System SPE Features Definition The feature [+low] describes phones produced while lowering the tongue body below […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"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-599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599","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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=599"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":614,"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions\/614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomsofsound.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}