of the final chapter recapitulates the Main Problem, its subdivision into the Problems (P1)–(P8), and motivates the steps that lead from the solution of one problem to raising and solving the next one. In this way, the reader may get a comprehensive look at our whole line of reasoning.infers our solution to the Main Problem from the solutions of the Problems (P1)–(P8), highlights the way in which the aims of the book have been reached, and paves the way for future research.

This chapter provides a survey of the most frequent methods of the treatment of inconsistencies in Optimality Theory (OT).raises the problem of whether our findings in the preceding chapters can be supported by the analysis of a linguistic theory that makes conscious and deliberate use of inconsistencies.will provide a brief overview of the basic ideas of OT. In , we will reveal the types of inconsistency in Optimality Theory with the help of an instructive case study without applying the terminology and the notation of the p-model. Some passages of René Kager’s argumentation in connection with the introduction of two correspondence constraints will be presented, which are quite simple but seem to be especially illuminating concerning the emergence and the treatment of inconsistencies in OT. In , we will analyse the structure and the treatment of these inconsistencies with the help of the p-model.will infer the solution to the problem mentioned.