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Controlled activation of latent contrast

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Ruth M. Kempson and
Randolph Quirk
Ruth M. Kempson
Affiliation:
University College London
Randolph Quirk
Affiliation:
University College London
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Abstract

Certain linguistic items, capable of contrast in some environments, have the property of being apparently free variants in others. This can be accounted for, if in a given item, one or more semantic features can be regarded as ‘latent’, i.e. susceptible of being activated in some contexts and suppressed in others. The technique of ‘forced-choice’ selection testing was used to investigate the phenomenon, and the hypothesis was found to be valid in respect of (a) the two preterit forms of wet, (b) the infinitive and present participle in environments where both can occur, and (c) pairs of quasi-synonyms.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 47 , Issue 3 , September 1971, pp. 548 - 572
Copyright
Copyright © 1971 by Linguistic Society of America

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