This work introduces a new approach to syllable representation. It proposes an additional level of phonological representation, the CV-tier; which defines functional positions within the syllable. The first three chapters provide an explanation of and support far this new approach from a typologically varied selection of languages, including English, Turkish, Finnish, French, Spanish, and Danish. The last two chapters are devoted to an in-depth application of the theory of Klamath, showing that a radical simplification of the phonological rules of that language is made possible in terms of this new framework. The book constitutes the first full-scale phonological justification for the CV-tier. George N. Clements is Associate Professor in the Linguistics Department at Cornell University and co-author, along with Morris Halle, of the recent MIT Press/ Bradford Books publication, Problem Book in Phonology. Samuel Jay Keyser is Head of the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT and editor of the Linguistic Inquiry Monograph Series.