Introduction

In this chapter I consider word-internal empty nuclei preceded by a consonant cluster. I provide a principled account for the fact that in this context a properly governable empty nucleus fails to be properly governed and receives a phonetic interpretation. To do so I introduce a new notion: government-licensing. I argue that a non-nuclear head can govern a complement only if (i) it has the required charm value or, if charmless, the required complexity, and (ii) it is government-licensed by the nucleus governing it. Government-licensing accounts for, among other things, the phonetic realization of an empty nucleus following a governing onset (i.e. a non-nuclear skeletal point which governs a complement), or for the simplification of a consonant cluster preceding an unrealized empty nucleus. If, in order to govern a complement, a non-nuclear point must be government-licensed and if a properly governed empty nucleus may not be such a licenser, in a situation where a properly governable empty nucleus follows a consonant cluster, the two following possibilities are predicted: (i) in order to government-license the consonant, the empty nucleus will fail to be properly governed, or (ii) proper government will apply, thus preventing the non-nuclear head from governing its complement, which entails the loss of this complement or of this non-nuclear head.