Dismantling syllable structure

By listing some empirical evidence and introducing theoreti-
cal considerations, this paper  argues for the idea that the
phonological skeleton  is made up of  strictly alternating C
and V  positions.  The model  advocated here claims  that no
two consonants  and no two  vowels are ever adjacent  in the
phonological  representation -- if  adjacency is  defined at
the level of the  skeleton.  This is rather counterintuitive
unless one  accepts the possibility of  empty skeletal posi-
tions.  If  so, the claim  acquires a new  meaning: whenever
adjacent consonants or adjacent  vowels (that is to say long
vowels or  diphthongs, besides  the obvious case  of hiatus)
are encountered their  representation will involve an inter-
vening empty vocalic  or consonantal position, respectively.
Accordingly, the first part of  the paper shows that the ac-
ceptance of  empty skeletal positions is a  viable idea and,
if looked  at from a non-Indo-European vantage  point, it is
in fact the null hypothesis.  The second part aims at demon-
strating  that the  arguments supporting  the status  of the
syllabic constituent coda are rather weak, in fact, the tra-
ditional syllable  structure, incorporating an  onset, a nu-
cleus and a  coda, can be dismantled in  favour of a simpler
model  involving  only   consonantal  and  vocalic  skeletal
positions.