The /k/-/s/ alternation in word pairs such as electric, electricity is not phonetically natural, and is learned by English speakers as a generalization over morphological relatives. Data gathered in an open-response experimental task show that it is productive before the suffix -ity. Lesser productivity is found for the same materials in a backformation task. Outcomes are analyzed as the result of a cognitive process of statistical inference. Abstract descriptions make crucial use of phonological variables. Cognitive preferences for certainty and for robust, redundant descriptions are argued to jointly determine the universe over which operational statistics are estimated.
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