Responds to criticisms raised in John Coleman's critique of Charm Theory in "Charm Theory Defines Strange Vowel Sets." (GLR)

A continuation of the controversy concerning Charm Theory reexamines the theory through further critical analysis in the areas of right-branching expressions, elements vs. binary features, combination of charmless segments, charm and syllabic position, and unmarked vowels and vowel systems. (GLR)

Discusses the use of mechanical validation of formal, combinatorial theories in phonetics, and uses a computational tool in analyzing the implementation of the Charm and Government theory of phonology. (GLR)

In the light of current morphological theory, this paper examines analogical leveling of long/short vowel oppositions in certain inflectional and derivational alternations in a number of modern Swiss German dialects. The regular occurrence of leveling is shown to depend on the extent to which the alternation in question is "perceptually…

Responds to counterarguments made by Haile and Mtenje (1988) concerning explicitness, arbitrariness, and complexity as it relates to earlier criticisms of an autosegmental analysis of Arabic verb morphology and the introduction of an alternative analysis presented in Hudson (1986). (eight references) (GLR)

Shows that the Scottish Vowel Length Rule supports Kiparsky's (1988) association of diffusing sound changes with lexical, and neogrammarian changes with postlexical rules, and to some extent, is a clearer illustration of Harris' (1989a: 55) notion of a phonological "life cycle" of changes and rules. (50 references) (GLR)