The fact that phonological objects may be present in the lexical entry of the root but absent from the surface realization is made possible by the restricted configuration of the syllabic space: the structure does not offer enough space for all the melodic elements to be associated and realized at the surface. The external plural in Kabyle presents melodic elements that are absent in the singular form, e.g. iddəw ~ iddaw-n "monkey", iccəw ~ acciw-n "horn", izəm ~ izmaw-n "lion" (-n is the suffix of the plural). Since these elements cannot be predicted, they must belong to the root and they are absent in the singular because of the restriction of the syllabic space, the template. My proposal is that the form of the singular in Kabyle nouns can be constrained by the size of the template, i.e. in Kabyle the interpretation of the melody is constrained by the syllabic structure.