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Taking a False Step

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Arnold M. Zwicky
Arnold M. Zwicky*
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
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Abstract

A special abstractness problem in generative grammar—that of intermediate derivational stages containing elements or sequences that are not well-formed as surface representations—is examined. Suspicious analyses employing such FALSE STEPS are cited from the phonological and syntactic literature. It is argued that false steps cannot be ruled out in general, because there is support for many false-step analyses, in both syntax and phonology; a Welsh morphophonemic case is treated in some detail.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , June 1974 , pp. 215 - 224
Copyright
Copyright © 1974 Linguistic Society of America

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