Vacuum alignment by broken gauge interactions

We study the problem of vacuum alignment by the extended technicolour (ETC)forces which have been invoked to give mass to ordinary fermions (quarks and leptons) in technicolour theories. We find that the ETC interactions prefer to align the vacuum in such a way as to give the maximum possible mass to the ordinary fermions. We show that the P⁰, P³, P^+-, P₈⁰, P₈³, and P₈^+- pseudo-Goldstone bosons in one technifamily ETC models cannot acquire any mass from ETC interactions alone. Finally, we point out that the Pati-Salam unification which has been invoked to give mass to the P⁰ and P³ implies a remaining discrete degeneracy of the vacuum.