Introduction

The discussion in this chapter will be framed by the following issues and questions:

• Predictability of elements: are some element specifications of segments predicted to be unmarked based on the C/V nature of syllabic positions? (§ 8.2)

• Preference of occurrence (lexical or token frequency): does RCVP predict preference ranking of segment types, with reference to position in the syllable? (§ 8.3)

• Preferred segmental systems (system typology, type frequency): does RCVP predict the shape of preferred phoneme systems? (§ 8.4)

Throughout the preceding chapters, I have occasionally indicated how RCVP addresses some of these questions, but in this chapter I will offer a systematic account.

In § 8.2, I will show how RCVP embodies a notion of bias (which I will also call paradigmatic harmony), meaning that syllabic positions favour elements in primary classes and to some extent also in the secondary classes that are identical to, or ‘harmonic’ with, the labelling of the syllabic position; for example, the syllabic C position (the edge) favours primary C elements in the manner, place and laryngeal classes. In § 8.3, I take this issue one step further and ask whether RCVP, given an inventory of segments in some language, predicts a preference ranking of these segments for each syllabic position. This question, which concerns token frequency, is usually addressed by focusing on lexical frequency in general, but I will explore the polysystematic route and discuss preferences of segment types for each syllabic position. In § 8.4, I show how bias can also be a predictor for the preferred structure of segmental inventories of a certain size, given the additional principle of economy (‘fewest elements’). While it is common to account for system preference with respect to the segment inventory as a whole, given the notion of polysystematicity, one should actually address inventories separately for different phonotactic positions. However, since the available typological information on inventories reports data on inventories as a whole, I will not develop a polysystematic account of segment inventories, save for a few remarks. On the whole, this chapter has a rather programmatic character in that it will lay out predictions without reporting extensive support for each. I take this to be a task for future work.