Porphyrogenitos wrote: ↑01 Mar 2019 00:48
Now I wonder if a "hypercubic" 2x2x2x2 system is possible. Well, if you add secondary articulations, like [+/-glottalized] or [+/-palatalized] it would be fairly easy, but I wonder if there's another "basic" feature that could be introduced.
So, I think the combination of the two I had above yields something sensible, though it includes labialization.
[-dorsal][-dorsal][+dorsal][+dorsal]
[+labial][-labial][-labial][+labial]
/p t k kʷ/ [-sonorant,-continuant]
/f s x xʷ/ [-sonorant,+continuant]
/m n ŋ ŋʷ/ [+sonorant,-continuant]
/β̞ l ɰ~j w/ [+sonorant,+continuant]
The resulting vowel system would also be a combination of the ones above.
[-round][+round][-round][+round]
[-back,+back]
/i y ɨ u/ [+high,+tense]
/ɪ ʏ ɨ̈ ʊ/ [+high,-tense]
/e ø ə o/ [-high,+tense]
/ɛ œ ɑ ɒ/ [-high,-tense]
IMHO, these look a bit strange. One way to avoid the labialization is to come up with new binary place features. I thought maybe [+/- dorsal] and [+/-coronal]. The combination of [+dorsal] and [+coronal] could be palatals and postalveolars. [+/-coronal] could be translated for vowels as [+/-front] with [+back,+front] combinations yieldings diphthongs.
[-dorsal][-dorsal][+dorsal][+dorsal]
[-coronal][+coronal][+coronal][-coronal]
/p t c k/ [-sonorant,-continuant]
/f s ʃ x/ [-sonorant,+continuant]
/m n ɲ ŋ/ [+sonorant,-continuant]
/w l j ɰ~h/ [+sonorant,+continuant]
[+front][-front][-front][+front]
[-back,+back]
/i ɨ u uɪ̯/ [+high,+tense]
/ɪ ɨ̈ ʊ ʊɪ̯/ [+high,-tense]
/e ə o oɪ̯/ [-high,+tense]
/ɛ ɑ ɒ aɪ̯/ [-high,-tense]
The diphthongs are a bit weird though. Maybe one could add more manner/height features instead.