The purpose of this paper is to relate past research on communicability of verbal behavior in schizophrenics to current psycholinguistic theory. The paper reviews the taxonomic methods (segmentation and classification) which have characterized past research on schizophrenic verbal behavior. It is concluded that although interesting results have been reported, specification of that aspect of schizophrenic language behavior which causes it to be labeled "aberrant" or "pathological" is still lacking. A more generalizable alternative than those previously suggested in the literature is proposed as the basis for interpreting schizophrenic speech. It is assumed that new developments in psycholinguistic theory will provide needed insights into the nature of the schizophrenic language disorder. (Author/DO)