ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some positive examples of recent research in Substance Free phonology (SFP). It clarifies several issues that surround the use of the 'substance' in phonology, especially in the phrase 'SFP'. In Optimality Theory (OT) the evaluation of candidates via the Eval function proceeds without regard to the content of the constraints. Only the ranking of constraints and the relationship of an input form to the candidate forms play a role in applying Eval. This part of the model is substance free. OT and other approaches to phonology assume that phonotactic patterns must be accounted for by the phonological grammar. SFP accepts the existence of innate substantive universals, but it does not have to accept all versions of innate representational schema for features. One version that is particularly odious to the SFP perspective is Feature Geometric models that mimic the structure of the vocal tract with the effect of sneaking substance back into the computational system.
