This book proposes that phonological contrast in particular the robustness of a phonemic
contrast does not depend solely on the presence of minimal pairs but is instead affected by a
set of phonetic usage-based and systemic factors. This perspective opens phonology to a more
direct interpretation through phonetic analysis undertaken in a series of case studies on the
Romanian vowel system. Both the synchronic phonetics and morpho-phonological alternations are
studied to understand the forces that have historically shaped and now maintain the phonemic
system of Romanian. A corpus study of phoneme type frequency in Romanian reveals marginal
contrasts among vowels in which a sharp distinction between allophones and phonemes fails to
capture relationships among sounds. An investigation of Romanian provides insight into the
historical roots of marginal contrast and a large acoustic study of Romanian vowels and
diphthongs is a backdrop for evaluating the phonetic and perceptual realization of marginal
contrast. The results provide impetus for a model in which phonology phonetics morphology and
perception interact in a multidimensional way.
