ABSTRACT
In mapping syllables to phonological strings, a certain amount of indeterminacy arises in the syllabic parsing of intervocalic consonants. One of the claimed advantages of a rule-approach to syllabification (Steriade) is the ordering possibility of the Onset rule and the Coda rule: Ordering the Onset Rule before the Coda Rule maximizes the onset, the opposite ordering maximizes the coda. This chapter argues that a template-approach coupled with a directionality parameter, adequately accounts for aspects of syllabification, which previously needed extrinsically ordered syllable-building rules or nonlocal evaluation metrics. It is universally true that a single intervocalic consonant is always analyzed as an onset. This is called the Principle of CV-precedence. The chapter describes that the mapping of syllable templates to segmental strings is, like other parts of Prosodic Phonology, governed by a Directionality parameter. The theory of syllabification allows a natural account of linking phenomena in syllabification which is at the same time compatible with strict Locality.
