Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book draws on a phonetic basis for the formal analysis of limitations on cross-linguistic variation. This is expressed in the form of a phonetically-grounded constraint hierarchy ranking segments according to their incompatibility with nasalization. The descriptive classes of segments that fail to become nasalized in nasal harmony, that is, the blocking and transparent segments, together constitute the neutral segments. The canonical derivational autosegmental or feature-geometric approach to segmental neutrality calls on representations to distinguish these segments. Segmental transparency is analyzed as the result of the independently motivated theoretical mechanism which obtains opacity effects. The need for parochial representations with the gapped configuration is thus eliminated, and segmental transparency is brought into the fold of a widespread phonological phenomenon, namely derivational opacity effects.