ABSTRACT
The distinction between two components I-marker and communicative considerations which is proposed here is motivated by a difference in function between I-marker elements and relations on the one hand and communicative considerations on the other: the I-marker marshals sets of alternative realization rules and communicative considerations determine the choice between the alternatives. These two aspects of the message thus play different roles in the production process and consequently they are assigned to different components in the model. Among the response sets that presumably operate is the relative difficulty of producing the utterance. This may be due either to the complexity of the realization rules or to the complexity of the surface string. The production of passive sentences apparently involves more complex relation rules than those required for the production of active ones. The tendency for passive sentences to be recalled in the active form was also found with a different experimental technique by Schlesinger.
