what is autosegmental phonology all about?

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In essence, autosegmental phonology is a departure from the standardised treatment of phonemes as clearcut consonants and vowels. 'Autosegments' are additional nasal, humming or throat sounds that overlay words in certain languages - such as Arabic and various African languages. As such, they can span the transition between consonants and vowels (and vice versa), so they blur the standardised way of breaking words down into distinct phonemes.

Generative phonology describes the process of building words by generating sequences of discrete phonemes by rules that apply to a given language. Thus, all languages feature generative phonology, whilst a few also have autosegmental phonology.