distinctive features
What sets apart
Distinctive features are the characteristics that set something apart from others of its kind—the qualities that make identification or differentiation possible.
A bird's distinctive features might include its coloring and call; a dialect's distinctive features include its particular vowel sounds and vocabulary.
The phrase appears in linguistics to describe the minimal sound properties that distinguish one phoneme from another, but general usage covers any defining traits: The building's most distinctive feature is its copper dome.
- voicingExpressing aloud
- manner of articulationHow airflow shapes speech
- aspirationStrong desire for achievement
- contrastNotable difference between things
- syllable structureSound unit organization pattern
underspecification · phoneme · allophone · speech sounds · sound system · phonology · binary · nasality · oppositions · phonetics · structuralism · linguistics · color palette · language · shape · telltale · telling detail · memorable
- phoneticsphonemes, phoneme, vocal folds, consonants, vowels
- phonologyphonemes, phoneme, consonants, vowels, allophone
- Prague SchoolPrague School, phoneme
- phonetic symbolsIPA, diacritics, schwa, phonetic alphabet, broad transcription
feature, distinct, distinction, features, featured, indistinct, distinctive, distinctly, featuring