ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book examines a range of phenomena involving front vocoids and coronal consonants. It shows that the phonologically salient feature for classifying front vowels and coronal consonants is coronal. The book also shows that the existence of a given default value need not imply that all surface occurrences of this value are unspecified in underlying representation. With respect to feature organization, the book incorporates a slightly modified version of the Unified Features model of Clements. It argues that all instances of a given place feature are arrayed on the same tier. The single-tier hypothesis is advantageous as it allows Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP)-related phenomena such as dissimilation to be accounted for in simple terms without increasing the power of the OCP. The book explains that metathesis is best viewed as the product of three independent rules: Syncope, Epenthesis and Vocalic Mapping.
