autosegmental phonology

A term used in PHONOLOGICAL theory to refer to an approach which contrasts with strictly SEGMENTAL theories of phonology. The segmental approach is seen as a set of REPRESENTATIONS which consist of a LINEAR arrangement of segments (or unordered sets of FEATURES) and boundaries that are dependent on MORPHOLOGICAL and SYNTACTIC criteria. By contrast, the autosegmental approach sees phonology as comprising several TIERS, each tier consisting of a linear arrangement of elements; these are linked to each other by association lines which indicate how they are to be COARTICULATED. Originally devised to handle TONAL phenomena, the approach has now been extended to deal with other features whose scope is more than one segment, especially VOWEL and CONSONANT HARMONY.