Rules and Schemas in the Development and Use of the English Past Tense

Consistent error patterns in English past-tense forms are reported for three age groups: preschoolers, 8–10-year-olds, and adults. It is argued that, although irregular forms are rote-learned, speakers make generalizations about such forms. Such a generalization is defined as a schema which describes general phonological properties of a morphological class, and is used in organizing and accessing the lexicon. Schemas for the English past tense develop and change with age, yielding implications for both acquisitional and diachronic theory.