distinctive feature
a feature of the sound system of a language that serves as the crucial distinguishing mark between two phonemes, as the distinctive feature of voicing, which distinguishes b from p in English, or nasality, which distinguishes m from b and p.
any of a set of phonetic properties, as coronal, nasal, or strident, serving as a basic unit of phonological analysis by which the sounds that are significant in a language can be characterized and distinguished from one another.
a component or phonetic feature characterizing a phoneme.
Origin of distinctive feature
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use distinctive feature in a sentence
Each is surrounded by a gelatinous capsule, which is its distinctive feature (Fig. 9).
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddClub life is, as might be supposed, a distinctive feature, and the Jockey Club (entrance 300) is a triumph of luxury.
Argentina | W. A. HirstThe distinctive feature in securing permanency seems to have been the intent to secure it.
Invention | Bradley A. FiskeThe abolition of existing property relations is not at all a distinctive feature of Communism.
Communism and Christianism | William Montgomery BrownNothing was marked, the boots were odd ones and of a prehistoric age; there was no distinctive feature about any of the things.
Mrs. Vanderstein's jewels | Mrs. Charles Bryce
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