변별적 자질로서의 모음의 길이

This study investigates the possibility of vowel length as a distinctive/phonemic feature in English. It is generally known that vowel length is a nondistinctive feature because it does not distinguish one sound from another and thus does not differentiate one word from another. In many cases, however, vowel length can play an important role in distinguishing words. Homophone pairs which consist of function and content words can be differentiated by vowel length. Minimal pairs which involve word-final voiced stops and their corresponding voiceless ones can be distinguished by the length of vowels preceding the stops. Tense and lax vowels are also distinguished by vowel length in terms of the phonetic symbols used in dictionaries and in relation to the syllable structure involving timing tiers. All of these cases point out that vowel length can function as a distinctive feature rather than a nondistinctive feature.