Studia Linguistica 56(3) 2002, pp. 227±263. # The Editorial Board of Studia Linguistica 2002. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK, and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA FORMALLY-GROUNDED PHONOLOGY: FROM CONSTRAINT-BASED THEORIES TO THEORY-BASED CONSTRAINTS* Joaquim Branda Äo de Carvalho Abstract. It is argued here that most phonological theory is not theoretical, but based on primitives and axioms (the so-called `constraints') which derive directly from the data they are supposed to explain. This article attempts to show what a non-circular conception of phonological theory may look like. The number of segmental primes, their markedness value, phonological content, and combinatory properties, as well as currently assumed constraints on syllable structure are shown to follow from a Boolean algebra, and, thus, to be independently motivated theory-grounded theorems. Hence, for example, neither the onset nor the no-coda constraints posited by OT are required. Another issue of the present theory is that segmental content and syllable structure and interdependent aspects, which emerge from the determination of skeletal units. 1. Introduction The basic claims in this article are the following: (1) a. there are two non-substantive levels in phonological theory: a subsymbolic (non-representational) level, and a symbolic (representational) level; b. the units of the subsymbolic level are the real phonological primitives; these primitives are pure forms: they lack any intrinsic phonetic content; c. the symbolic units of the representational level, like features or components, are not primitive; they derive from the mise en forme of substance by subsymbolic organization. The idea underlying (1b) ultimately dates back to Trubetzkoy's (1939) `logical classification of phonological contrasts' as well as to Hjelmslev's (1943) `glossematic' theory. More recently, the evolution from the earlier CV-representation of the skeleton (McCarthy 1979, Halle & Vergnaud 1980, Clements & Keyser 1981, 1983) to a homogeneous chain of `pure' units (Vergnaud 1982, Kaye & Lowenstamm 1983) was, in our sense, a major step towards the definition of an autonomous level of analysis in * I wish to thank Marc Klein, Jean-Elie Boltanski, Tobias Scheer, Philippe Se Âge Âral and an anonymous reviewer for Studia linguistica for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. I am also indebted to Helen Dochney-Le Âpine for crucial help in the preparation of the present version.