ON THE ORGANIZATION AND SPECIFICATION OF MANNER FEATURES

Within feature geometry, different claims have been made about the ran ge, unity and location of manner features with little support for a Ma nner node as a unit of subsegmental structure. The issue is reconsider ed, drawing on evidence of interacting error patterns in the developin g systems of three young children acquiring English. The results revea l that obstruent stops and glides can serve as targets of assimilation when the triggering features are [continuant], [nasal], or [approxima nt], but also block as targets under superficially similar circumstanc es. It is argued that these three features are dependents of the same node, namely Manner, and that default features must be permitted to be both specified and underspecified underlyingly.