The representation of geminate consonants remains a controversial topic in phonological theory. In a skeletal theoretic approach, for example, a geminate is represented as bipositional: a single root node multiply linked to two skeletal positions, as in (1) (see e.g. Clements & Keyser 1983, Levin 1985).

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Conversely, in moraic theory, geminates are inherently moraic (see e.g. Hayes 1989, 1995, Davis 1994, 1996). Thus, an underlying geminate consonant differs from a single consonant of the same quality in terms of a mora, as shown in (2):

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It is noteworthy that evidence bearing on the representation of geminates has thus far come predominantly from the patterning of intervocalic geminates, where the first part of a geminate occurs in coda position. Discussion of syllable-initial geminates, on the other hand, has received little attention in the literature.