Headhood, Elements, Specification and Contrastivity

Book excerpt: The papers in this volume focus on notions which are central to the work of John M. Anderson - the founder of Dependency Phonology - and to phonological theory: the idea of structural analogy between phonology and syntax; the head/dependent relation; the idea that phonological representations are best conceived of in terms of a set of privative elements (rather than as binary-valued features); and the related notions of contrastivity and specification (and non-specification). An important issue dealt with is the relationship between specification and derivationality, and the question whether derivations are necessary in phonological theory. Many of the contributions provide sound empirical support for the appeal to elements and to headhood at all levels of phonological analysis. The book will be of interest to anyone interested in current issues in phonological theory.