FIRST AND FOURTH GRADERS AND ADULTS WERE PRESENTED ORALLY WITH A LIST OF PAIRS OF SYNTHETIC PLURAL NOUNS DIFFERING ONLY IN THEIR FINAL CONSONANTS (E.G., NARP/NARV) AND ASKED TO JUDGE WHICH MEMBER OF THE PAIR WOULD BE A BETTER PLURAL. FIFTH GRADERS MADE SIMILAR JUDGMENTS CONCERNING PAIRS OF PAST-TENSE VERBS. MOST OF THE SOUNDS PREFERRED BY THE ADULTS (/SH/, /CH/, /J/, /F/, /V/, /TH/) AND THOSE PREFERRED BY THE CHILDREN (/SH/, /CH/, /J/) AS ARTIFICIAL PLURALS SHARE WITH THE REGULAR PLURAL MORPHEME THE PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES PLUS STRIDENCY AND PLUS CONTINUANCE WHICH ARE MORE CLOSELY IDENTIFIED WITH THE PLURAL THAN OTHER FEATURES. THE SOUNDS /CH/ AND /J/, WHICH MAY BE ANALYZED AS CONSONANT CLUSTERS CONTAINING THE REGULAR PAST-TENSE MARKERS, I.E., AS /TSH/ AND /DZH/ RESPECTIVELY, WERE THE ONLY PREFERRED PAST-TENSE MARKERS. IT IS FELT THAT THESE RESULTS REFLECT THE PSYCHOLOGICAL RELEVANCE OF THE ANALYSIS OF SOUNDS INTO COMPONENTS AND SUGGEST THAT THE FEATURES ARE ORGANIZED IN A FLEXIBLE FRAMEWORK ALLOWING THE RISING OF PARTICULAR FEATURES TO PSYCHOLOGICAL SALIENCE ACCORDING TO THE SPECIFIC TASK REQUIRED. (SEE RELATED DOCUMENT AL 000 832.) (AUTHOR/DO)