Rival morphological processes

-ize vs. -ify

As was shown, the derivatives in -ize and -ify are phonologically conditioned allomorphs whose distribution is regulated by the constraint hierarchy. It was shown that the two allomorphs are almost complementarily distributed, with the domains of -ify and -ize overlapping only with vowel-final trochaic bases. Without making additional assumptions, one would predict the occurrence of doublets (at least with some less frequent words that fail to be token-blocked). Dandify and dandyize was mentioned as an example of such doublets. There are also a few doublets where -ify is attached to a mono-syllabic bound root, whereas -ize attaches to the disyllabic stem:

(1) sinicize/sinify, plasticize/plastify, technicize/technify

In sum, apart from the proposed constraint hierarchy no other mechanisms are needed to regulate the competition of -ify and -ize.