It is not uncommon in science that following a period of turbulent growth, a skeptical mood builds up and doubts begin to be expressed as to the rationale of progress achieved and the extent to which the position reached coincides with the original goals. This kind of discomfort is felt today by linguists and their close companions, the psycholinguists. Despite its growing intensity, this discomfort is not readily verbalizable. Still, we will try to characterize it tentatively with a few angry assertions, each of which taken separately is perhaps untenable in its extreme form, but which...

The major portion of the investigations described in the present volume would never have been undertaken without the generous support of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Society). During my professorship at the University of Marburg, I could not have carried on with my work in the psychology of language had it not been for the aid offered by this institution. Since these experimental investigations constitute the empirical backbone of the entire argument, I feel especially indebted to the Society. My warm thanks are also extended to the over two thousand subjects whose...