Reconsideration for Tense Vs. Lax Feature

Abstract

In my another paper on 'Jakobsonian Distinctive Features', I have brought out the possibility of revising Jakobsonian distinctive feature of 'tense vs. lax' in the light of the phonological system of the Korean language. The purpose of the present paper is to falsify Jakobson and Halle's statements about the functional properties of the acclaimed universal feature of 'tense vs. lax': '…the autonomous opposition voiced vs. voiceless is ordinarily confined to the stops: the aspiration is used to implement the opposition of tense and lax stops,…' In the above quotation, the problem which I am positing is only implicitly shown that the aspirated vs. unaspirated feature functions only as a redundant feature, implementing the opposition of voiced vs. voiceless and/or tense vs. lax. Halle, on the other hand, makes the point definitely much clearer in the following passage: '…the traditional features of tense-lax, aspirated-unaspirated and fortis-lenis are included in the single distinctive feature tense· lax.'