Vocalic

元音性

One of the major class features of sound set up by generative phonologists in their distinctive feature theory of phonology, its opposite being non-vocalic. Vocalic sounds may be defined articulatorily or acoustically in this approach: they are sounds where there is a free passage of air through the vocal tract, the most radical constriction in the oral cavity not exceeding that found in [i] and [u], and the vocal folds being positioned so as to allow spontaneous voicing; acoustically, there is a sharply defined formant structure. Non-vocalic sounds lack one or other of these conditions.

生成音系学在音系学的区别特征理论中确立的主要类特征之一，与非元音性对立。这种理论中元音性语音可从发音和声学两方面定义为：声道内空气流通自由，口腔内的最大收缩不超过[i]和[u]音的收缩，声带的位置允许自发带声；声学上有一个明显界定的共振峰结构。非元音性语音不完全满足上述条件。