compact (adj.)

One of the features of sound set up by Jakobson and Halle in their DISTINCTIVE FEATURE theory of PHONOLOGY, to handle variations in PLACE OF ARTICULATION, its opposite being DIFFUSE. Compact sounds are defined articulatorily and acoustically, as those which involve a STRICTURE relatively far forward in the mouth, and a relatively high concentration of ACOUSTIC energy in a narrow, central part of the sound spectrum. For example, OPEN VOWELS are [+compact] (abbreviated as [+comp]); HIGH or MID vowels are [−compact] ([−comp]). The feature is replaced by LOW in Chomsky and Halle’s.