continuant (adj.) (cont)

One of the features of sound set up by Chomsky and Halle in their DISTINCTIVE FEATURE theory of PHONOLOGY, to handle variations in MANNER OF ARTICULATION. Continuant sounds have been defined articulatorily and acoustically, as those produced with an incomplete CLOSURE of the VOCAL TRACT. All VOWELS and FRICATIVES are [+continuant] (abbreviated as [+cont]). The opposite term in Jakobson and Halle’s approach is DISCONTINUOUS; in Chomsky and Halle’s later system, it is non-continuant or STOP: these are sounds produced with a complete closure of the vocal tract, and thus characterized acoustically by a silence, as in PLOSIVES [−continuant] [−cont]. The term INTERRUPTED is also sometimes used.