Phonology is a rapidly changing and increasingly varied field, having traveled quite some distance from its original structuralist and generative underpinnings. In this overview I address the status of underlying representations (URs) in phonology, which have been rejected by a number of researchers working in different frameworks. After briefly discussing the current state of phonology, I survey the arguments in favor of vs. against URs, considering recent surface-oriented critiques and alternatives. I contrast three straightforward abstract tonal analyses against the potential arguments which accuse URs of being (i) wrong, (ii) redundant, (iii) indeterminate, (iv) insufficient, or (v) uninteresting. Identifying two distinct goals in linguistics which I refer to as determining ‘what’s in the head?’ vs. ‘what’s in the language?’, I suggest, responding to some rather strong opinions to the contrary, that URs are an indispensable and welcome tool offering important insights into the typology of phonological systems, if not beyond.

中文翻译：

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为什么是底层表示？

音韵学是一个快速变化且日益多样化的领域，与最初的结构主义和生成基础相去甚远。在这篇概述中，我讨论了语音学中基础表征 (UR) 的状态，这些状态已被许多在不同框架中工作的研究人员拒绝。在简要讨论了音韵学的当前状态之后，我调查了赞成与反对 URs 的论点，并考虑了最近面向表面的批评和替代方案。我将三个直接的抽象音调分析与潜在的论点进行了对比，这些论点指责 UR 是（i）错误的，（ii）冗余的，（iii）不确定的，（iv）不足的，或（v）无趣的。确定语言学中两个不同的目标，我称之为确定“头脑中有什么？” 与“语言中有什么？”，我建议，