ABSTRACT
Whenever two minimal units enter into a relation, they form a construction and, typically, the relation between units in a construction will not be equal; it is asymmetrical. This is, in short, the heart of the wisdom that Dependency Phonology (DP) or Dependency Grammar more broadly, has contributed to linguistic theory. This chapter discusses the basic principles of the DP approach. It discusses suprasegmental structure, starting with the notion of syllable structure and then moving on to the distinction between word and utterance structure. DP adopts the basic premise of Dependency Grammar, which is that linguistic units enter into constructions that are characterized by a relation of dependency between heads and dependents. The chapter focuses on segmental structure. It then deals with specific characteristic topics in DP: monovalency, the idea that vowel structure is organized in a triangular way, segment-internal grouping and minimal specification.
