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54 The phonological nature of the beginning of the word(11)m n r l wI/U line ---- cI -------- I -------- I --------- U→A line ---- A -------------- A -------- A -------- A --------- AIf we accept Scheer’s (1999a) proposal to represent velarity as (U)and labiality as (B), we are able to explain the predominant pattern intwo sonorant clusters occurring at the left edge in Polish. The sonorants[n r l w] can contract the IG relation with the preceding [m] simply becausethe latter lacks any element on the I/U line. Note that just like inthe case of #TR clusters discussed in the previous section, here we alsoneed two different representations of the same sequence, that is, #RR.This is clearly observable in some sonorant sequences which behave asif they contained an unlocked empty nucleus and hence trigger vowelvocalisation in the prefix, e.g. ze + mleæ ‘grind’. The behaviour of theprefix, i.e. vowel vocalisation, betrays the status of the [ml] cluster. Additionally,the cluster exhibits the vowel-zero alternation in the relatedforms, e.g. mieliæ, z + mieliæ ‘grind ipf./pf.’ Crucially, the vast majority ofm + sonorant clusters behave regularly in that they suppress the finalvowel of the prefix (12).(12) a.mnie — ode mniemleæ — mieliæ — ze+mleæ — z+mieliæb.mno¿yæ — roz+mno¿yæmrugaæ — od+mrugaæmroziæ — od+mroziæmlaskaæ — od+mlaskaæm³ody — od+m³odziæm³óciæ — z+m³óciæ‘me/from me’‘grind/pf.’‘multiply/pf.’‘wink/wink back’‘freeze/defrost’‘smack one’s lips/smackback’‘young/rejuvenate’‘thresh/pf.’It can be seen that although they are rare, some m + sonorant clustersmust be resolved by means of PG (12a) either because of vowel vocalisationin the prefix (preposition) or vowel-zero alternation in the stem. Onthe other hand, the forms in (12b) behave regularly, i.e. similarly to thosein (6b) above, in that they contract the IG relation and hence suppressthe prefixal vowel. Below in (13) we provide the representational differencebetween zemleæ and odmrugaæ.