ABSTRACT
In feature geometry, the problem of the grouping of features is solved by representing segments as trees, in which the nodes represent features and feature groups. This chapter presents a hierarchical configuration of the distinctive features. It deals with the way features or subconstituents of the segment tree spread or delink. Leaving predictable features unspecified may have a simplifying effect on the formulation of rules that neutralize contrasts to some neutral, 'default' realization. Vowel harmony is a subclass of long-distance assimilation. Many languages exclude certain combinations of vowels in the word. The chapter shows that an impressive array of the ways in which languages organize the sound resources that are available to them. It describes how phonological theory has responded to this variation by constructing a representational framework in which phonological content is slotted into a hierarchically organized array of structural positions. Phonological theory has been quite successful in laying out these representations.
