Editing Autosegmental phonology (section)

== Structure of autosegmental rules ==
The autosegmental formalism departs from the depiction of segments as matrices of features in order to show segments as connected groups of individual features. Segments are depicted through vertical listings of features connected by lines. These sets can also underspecify in order to indicate a class rather than a single segment. Environments can be shown by placing other connected sets of features around that which is the focus of the rule. Feature changes are shown by striking through the lines that connect a feature that is lost to the rest of the segment and drawing dotted lines to features that are gained.

[[File:Distinctive features.svg|thumb|125px|Voiced coronal stops]]

=== Distinctive features ===
{{Main|Distinctive features}}
Rather than classify segments using the categories given in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]], the autosegmental formalism makes use of distinctive features, which provide greater granularity and make identification of [[natural classes]] easier. A segment is identified by a +/− dichotomy of a series of binary features, some of which are subfeatures of unary features ([[place of articulation]], in particular, is identified by unary features indicating the active articulator, and binary subfeatures that distinguish further). For example, [p], the voiceless bilabial stop, is indicated [−sonorant, −continuant, −voice, labial], and the set of voiced coronal stops can be indicated [−sonorant, −continuant, +voice, coronal].
[[File:Dependent features.svg|thumb|175px|An alveolar segment using dependent features]]

==== Feature dependencies ====
For unary features to be fully specified, it is necessary to include binary subfeatures that correspond to them. In the autosegmental formalism, this is depicted by placing the binary subfeature at a horizontal offset from the unary feature and connecting them with a line. The next top-level feature in the segment would then be connected to the unary feature as well as opposed to the tone.

=== Functional groupings ===
There are situations in which the rule applies not to a particular value of a feature, but to whatever value the feature has. In these situations, it is necessary to include the presence of the feature, but not to specify its value. This can be done by including a placeholder feature composed of ellipses, with an indication of the type of feature. For example, a generic place feature can be indicated [...]<sub>P</sub>.