Children who say goed instead of went are not being random. Analogy is the process of extending a pattern from one set of forms to another on the basis of perceived similarity.

In historical linguistics, analogy reshapes paradigms so that irregular forms become more regular, or occasionally the reverse. In language learning and everyday creativity, speakers analogize to fill gaps or coin novel expressions. The same cognitive tendency supports metaphor and reasoning outside language.

Analogical change interacts with sound change: sound laws may create irregularities that analogy later levels. Linguists model analogy with proportional formulas and, more recently, with computational pattern-learning approaches. It remains one of the main engines of morphological change.

• Extension of a linguistic pattern by similarity
• Drives regularization in morphology
• Operates in learning, change, and creativity
• Interacts with sound change over time