PSYCHOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR AN INTERMEDIATE STAGE IN A MORPHOLOGICAL DERIVATION

In generative phonology, adjectives (e.g., decisive) derived from verbs ending in /d/ (decide) go through an intermediate stage in which their last syllable is /ziv/, whereas verbs ending in /(mi)t/ (e.g., permit) convert directly to their manifest form (permissive). When forced to choose between two artificial substitutes (e.g., garluzive vs. garlushive, or yermizive vs. yermishive), Ss chose more frequently /ziv/ endings for synthetic /d/-final verbs (garlude) than for /t/-final verbs (yermit). This and other findings are taken as support for the abstract rules of generative phonology. © 1969 Academic Press, Inc. All rights reserved.