We model tri-bimaximal lepton mixing from first principles in a way that avoids the problem of the vacuum alignment characteristic of such models. This is achieved by using a softly broken A4 symmetry realized with an isotriplet fermion, also triplet under A4. No scalar A4-triplet is introduced. This represents one possible realization of general schemes characterized by the minimal set of either three or five physical parameters. In the three parameter versions mee vanishes, while in the five parameter schemes the absolute scale of neutrino mass, although not predicted, is related to the two Majorana phases. The model realization we discuss is potentially testable at the LHC through the peculiar leptonic decay patterns of the fermionic and scalar triplets.

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