A study examined final vowel qualities in the speech of seven English speakers from the urban Tyneside area of England. It focused on variations in the pronunciation of the final "y" (e.g., city, happy, tiny) and their explanation by way of (1) the resonance characteristics associated with the articulatory gesture, (2) the rhythmic-quantity characteristics of the first, accented syllable, and (3) the voicing characteristics immediately following the final vowel. The study points to the importance of three factors in phonological statement: (1) the need to recognize many structures and systems; (2) the need to take systematic account of the resonance characteristics of all articulatory gestures; and (3) the phonological relevance of pieces longer than the segment or syllable. (MSE)