  There is a direct group-theoretical connection between neutrino mixing and
horizontal symmetry that can be established without any dynamical input. Such a
connection is reviewed and expanded in this article. For certain symmetry
groups $\G$ including $A_4$ and $S_4$, it is shown that a generic $U(1)\x\G$
Higgs potential of a valon yields exactly the alignments dictated by the
group-theoretic approach, but energy can now be used to discriminate different
alignments. This mechanism possibly explains why starting from an $A_4$ group,
the tribimaximal mixing matrix with an enhanced $S_4$ symmetry is more
preferable than the one without it.
