ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a discussion of coronal vocoids, i.e. vowels and glides. It examines coronal consonants, beginning with anterior coronals, and discusses plain postalveolars and continues with an examination of palatalized consonants. The chapter shows that specifying the palatal glide, front vowels and coronal consonants as coronal provides a straightforward account of the observed alternations. It also shows that a theory in which front vocoids and coronal consonants are specified for different features can only handle the alternations in an abitrary way or by including additional redundancy into the analysis. The chapter discusses problems associated with assuming the dual feature specification for the palatal glide and shows that the vowel/glide/consonant alternations observed in Spanish receive a simpler and more natural account within an approach in which all front vocoids are treated as coronals. It assumes that in the event that no assimilation occurs, the nasal consonant receives the feature values (coronal, +anterior) by default.
