  Motivated by an analysis on the well-posedness of the initial boundary value
problem for the motion of an inextensible hanging string, we first consider an
initial boundary value problem for one-dimensional degenerate hyperbolic
systems with a localized term and show its well-posedness in weighted Sobolev
spaces. We then consider the linearized system for the motion of an
inextensible hanging string. Well-posedness of its initial boundary value
problem is demonstrated as an application of the result obtained in the first
part.
