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)

Argues that what have been called rising diphthongs in Frisian can be shown to be glide-vowel sequences of which the glide forms part of the syllable onset tather than being part of the nucleus. This argument is supported by an analysis of the phenomena of breaking. (Author/VWL)

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 a response to Philip Carr's discussion of the status of character of the Scottish Vowel-Length Rule (SVLR), this paper presents a proposal concerning the status of stem and base variation conditioned purely by morphological categories. It suggests that SVLR is precyclic only and non-structure changing. (Contains 19 references.) (LB)

Discusses the question of whether there are languages with fewer than two vowels. This article proposes to show that the problem lies in the way the number of vowels a language has is counted. (includes references) (JL)

It is shown that metrical theory as an independent module plays a central role in English vowel-length alternations in spite of formerly accepted rule-based apparatus explanations. An argument is made for a "representational" rather than "derivational" approach to metrical structure, based on well-formedness conditions or…

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…

Attempts to demonstrate that the S-O alternation in French is not phonologically but morphologically derived. (AM)

According to Cowan, an underground rule is one that affects underlying but not surface structure of the item responsible for a phonological change. (DD)

Reply to the article by Victoria Fromkin, FL 501 940. (VM)

Addresses the relationship between phonology and morphology, using the vowel alternations of Standard German Umlaut and Ablaut as relevant examples. The article analyzes Umlaut as a completely unified process of vowel fronting, whereas it argues that Ablaut is synchronically a totally unpredictable vowel change found in the paradigms of strong…

Reviews problems and advantages of approaches to analysis of vowel length in Standard Scottish English and Scots dialects. It is suggested that insufficient attention has been paid to operation of Scottish Vowel-Length Rule at level 1 of the lexicon, in ablaut past-tense forms, and with noun plural fricative voicing and that consideration of these…

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)