ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a style of argument which has become particularly important in linguistic theory in the last fifteen years or so. Accordingly, the grammar of the language must include statements regarding the order of application of its phonological rules, although there are also some universal principles of rule application. The chapter represents the linkage between tones and segments as mediated by the skeleton, which is assigned a central, pivotal role in autosegmental phonology, as befits its timing function. Accordingly, an autosegmental representation can be thought of as analogous to a book suspended in space with open pages, the spine of the book corresponding to the skeleton, and each of the pages to a different autosegmental plane. Simply, while the autosegmental configurations considered consists solely of one layer in any one plane, the metrical fabric allows for multilayered hierarchical structures.
