Autosegments
In non-linear phonology, all features are treated as autosegments,
i.e. as features that are independent from the other features making up a segment. The tiers, as displayed on the right, include the following autosegments:
- tonal autosegments [+/- high]
- syllabic autosegments (syllables)
- skeletal autosegments (C,V,C sequences)
- segmental autosegments (phonemes)
- subsegmental autosegments (features)
The association of the autosegments on adjacent tiers is guaranteed by a system of association principles.