THE BINARY PRINCIPLE OF DISTINCTIVE FEATURE ANALYSIS IS CONSIDERED UNECONOMICAL FOR FORMULATION OF THE RULES FOR VOWEL COMBINATION IN SPANISH. CLASSIFICATORY FEATURES IN A TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR ARE ALL BINARY. HOWEVER, STRICT ADHERENCE TO DISTINCTIVE FEATURE ANALYSIS IS CONSIDERED UNECONOMICAL FOR FORMULATION OF RULES FOR VOWEL COMBINATION ACROSS WORD BOUNDARIES. PRESENT INADEQUACIES IN THE RULES NEEDED TO ACCOUNT FOR THESE VOWEL COMBINATIONS ARE INDICATED. THE AUTHOR'S CONCLUSION IS THAT A SIMPLER DESCRIPTION IS POSSIBLE WITH A NONBINARY SYSTEM. THIS PAPER WAS PRESENTED AT THE 1966 ANNUAL MEETING OF THE LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA (NEW YORK, DECEMBER 1966). (KL)