"Default" refers to the pattern that applies when all else fails; default pattern have the most open phonological and lexical definitions.
- Bybee (2004), Pag. 66

The term "default" as used by Marcus et al. [Marcus, G. F., Brinkmann, U., Clahsen, H., Wiese, R., Woest, A. & Pinker, S., 1993, “German inflection: The exception that proves the rule”, Occasional Paper No. 47, Center for Cognitive Science, MIT, Cambridge, MA] and Prasada and Pinker [Prasada, S., and Pinker, S., 1993, Generalisation of regular and irregular morphological patterns, “Language and Cognitive Processes” 8, pp. 1-56] is different: it is not intended to be gradient, but is meant to single out the methods of inflection that are used in various "emergency" circumstances when a plural or other inflected form is non-existent or unknown. The default pattern must be capable of occurring with words of any phonological make-up, so it must be completely open in the way it defines the items to which it may apply.
- Bybee (2004), Pag. 53-54