Elements, Government, and Licensing

Elements, Government and Licensing covers three principal domains of phonological representation: melody and segmental structure; tone, prosody, and prosodic structure; and phonological relations, empty categories, and vowel-zero alternations. Theoretical topics covered include the formalization of Element Theory, the hotly debated topic of structural recursion in phonology, and the empirical status of government.

In addition, a wealth of new analyses and empirical evidence sheds new light on empty categories in phonology, the analysis of certain consonantal sequences, phonological and non-phonological alternation, the elemental composition of segments, and many more. Taking up long-standing empirical and theoretical issues informed by the Government Phonology and Element Theory, this book provides theoretical advances while also bringing to light new empirical evidence and analysis challenging previous generalizations.

The insights offered here will be equally exciting for phonologists working on related issues inside and outside the Principles and Parameters program, such as researchers working in Optimality Theory or classical rule-based phonology.