Subsegments and the emergence of segments

Abstract

Q Theory proposes that the most granular and basic temporal unit of abstract phonological representation is not the segment, as widely assumed in classic generative phonology, but the quantized subsegment. With a more granular quantization of the speech stream, Q Theory provides phonological grammar with the representational capability to model behaviors that affect both the parts and the wholes of segments. In Q Theory, segments are emergent from strings of subsegments and from subsegmental interactions based on the principles of similarity, proximity, and co-occurrence that already underlie phonological operations. Evidence is presented from linguistic typology, and mechanics are drawn from speech segmentation and recognition. Q Theory makes it possible to develop an advanced theory of complex segments.