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A study examines the past-tense inflection process for native and non-native speakers of English. Subjects, ten native speakers of standard British English and ten proficient non-native speakers of English, were tested for responses to pseudo-irregular and -regular verbs according to their phonological distance (i.e., prototypicality) to known irregular and regular paradigms. Results indicated that both irregular and regular forms were produced using analogies. However, analysis of the data and informal interviews with some subjects revealed that when subjects failed to analogize at all, they had access to a mechanism that allowed for application of competing rules. No significant differences were found between native speakers and non-native speakers. In terms of phonological distance, rhyme effect was judged by subjects to be more crucial than alliteration effect in triggering analogies. A hybrid processing models that entailed convergence between symbolist and connectionist positions is proposed, and it is argued that such a model will necessarily embrace a conceptualization that acknowledges the dynamic interaction of analogy and rule in language processing. Contains 11 references. (Author/MSE)