vocalic (adj.) (voc)

One of the major CLASS FEATURES of sound set up by GENERATIVE phonologists in their DISTINCTIVE FEATURE theory of PHONOLOGY, its opposite being non-vocalic. Vocalic sounds may be defined ARTICULATORILY or ACOUSTICALLY in this approach: they are sounds where there is a free passage of air through the VOCAL TRACT, the most radical CONSTRICTION in the ORAL CAVITY not exceeding that found in [i] and [u], and the VOCAL FOLDS being positioned so as to allow spontaneous VOICING; acoustically, there is a sharply defined FORMANT structure. Non-vocalic sounds lack one or other of these conditions.