以新古典音韻學為本，本研究主張音韻與構詞的普遍工具箱裝有前後暨尋徵。
前後由非自反性、非對稱性與遞移性所定義。僅是在時間層明確標誌前後關係，連同重疊在內的不同詞綴形式皆以同一方式處理：詞素嵌合和線性化。前後為本音韻學的細節在第二章回顧，同時西拉雅語、達悟語跟Kinande語裡的一些重疊樣式也在此前後標示的表示下來分析。
尋徵從接受方理解各個過程。因為尋徵只專注尋找第一個特徵條件符合其所尋之音段，尋徵的發動者與尋徵的目標物可能是互相緊鄰的，或不是如此。既然不同的尋徵發動者可能找到相同的尋徵目標物，反覆規則施作便無其必要了。在第三章回顧尋徵的前述特點及其他以後，尋徵便用來分析維吾爾語的元音和諧跟其他音韻過程，以及Tahltan語的輔音和諧。
於第四章對Guarijio語和巽他語的研討展現尋徵、前後及其互動能得出眾多紛雜的表象。
如同前此的相關文獻，本研究認為前後暨尋徵是人類語言的共性。

Conducted under Substance-Free Phonology, the present study argues that precedence and Search belong to the universal toolkit of morpho-phonology.
Precedence is defined by irreflexivity, asymmetricality, and transitivity. Simply by explicitly stating the precedence relationship in the timing tier, different kinds of affixation (reduplication included) are explained in a unified manner: morpheme concatenation and linearization. Not only are the details of Precedence-Based Phonology reviewed in chapter two, but also some reduplicative patterns in Siraya, Tao, and Kinande are analyzed with the precedence-encoded representation.
Search realizes a process from its recipient’s perspective. Because Search only pays attention to the first segment whose feature make-up matches what is looked for, the initiator of Search and the target of Search can be next to each other (i.e. local) or not (i.e. long-distance). Since different initiators of Search may find the same target of Search, iterative rule application is out of use. These properties of Search and more are reviewed in chapter three. The vowel harmony and some other phonological processes in Uyghur and the consonant harmony in Tahltan are then analyzed with Search.
In chapter four, two more case studies from Guarijio and Sundanese demonstrate how Search, precedence, and their interaction can derive various surface phenomena.
Joining the relevant literature, the present study concludes that precedence and Search are universal in Language.

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