Analysis of the pronunciation of the prefixed particles in Hebrew formal
and semi-formal speech shows that deviations from the norms are of
significance only in the minority of the forms, espe cially in the rare
environments. The findings are explained by a markedness theory which
incorporates frequency and naturalness of rules and conditions from
phonetic, morphophonemic, and morpho syntactic points of view. The
pronunciation of the prefixed particles may serve as a parameter for
linguistic registers.