Distinctiveness in Speech Sounds Speech sounds are different from each other in a number of ways, such as, place of articulation manner of articulation, Voicing, nasality, aspiration, tongue height, etc. Some of the differences are distinctive in that they serve to distinguish between words in a given language In english, for example, the difference between/p/ and /b/,/ and /e/ are distinctive. Substituting one sound for the other changes the meaning of a wordDistinctiveness in Speech Sounds • Speech sounds are different from each other in a number of ways, such as, place of articulation, manner of articulation, voicing, nasality, aspiration, tongue height, etc. Some of the differences are distinctive in that they serve to distinguish between words in a given language. In English, for example, the difference between /p/ and /b/, /l/ and /e/ are distinctive. Substituting one sound for the other changes the meaning of a word