Allomorph
An allomorph is a variant form of a morpheme, which is a unit of meaning in language. Allomorphs can differ in pronunciation or spelling but have the same meaning and function. For example, the plural morpheme in English has three allomorphs: /s/, /z/, and /ɪz/ as in cats, dogs, and horses.
7 Key excerpts on "Allomorph"
eBook - ePub- Peter Hawkins(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Work out the rule determining which Allomorph will occur, and present a set of data similar to that of Exercise 1 to show the distribution of each Allomorph. The rule is similar to the ‘plural’ rule. Exercise 6 The morpheme |in–|, meaning ‘not’, has the Allomorphs /im–, in–, iŋ–/. From the following data, work out the distribution of these Allomorphs: We have so far illustrated Allomorphs mainly in connection with grammatical morphemes like | plural | and | past |. Lexical morphemes can also have variant forms or Allomorphs, though less commonly. For example, wife has two Allomorphs, /waıv–/ which occurs in the plural wives, and /waıf/ which occurs elsewhere, namely in the singular wife, the possessive wife’s, and in compound forms (wife-swopping). Similarly, knife and loaf have Allomorphs /naıv–/ and /loɷv/ for the plural, but /naıf/ and /loɷf/ elsewhere. 1 This Allomorphic alternation between voiced and voiceless sounds is found in other words too: path and wreath have the Allomorphs /pɑð–/ and /rið–/ in the plural and /pɑθ, riθ/ elsewhere; house has /haɷz–/ in the plural, but /haɷs/ elsewhere. In subsequent sections we shall see further examples of Allomorphic variation involving lexical items. Morphophonemics The study of the relationship between phonemes and morphemes, exemplified in the preceding sections, is called – or rather, was called, until the advent of generative phonology – morphophonemics. Morphophonemics was always treated separately from phonemics: phonemics (phonology) studies relationships between sounds (particularly between contrasting sounds within a language), and the variant realizations (allophones) of each sound or group of sounds. Most pre-generative phonologists took the view that phonemes should be related to morphemes only after the phonemes of the language have been established and described. Morphophonemics studies the ways in which phonemes can alternate as realizations (Allomorphs) of the same morpheme...
eBook - ePub- Carlos Gussenhoven, Haike Jacobs(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Morphemes that mean the same thing can have different phonological forms, in which case they are Allomorphs. The English comparative is expressed by the suffix -er in some adjectives, like nice, but by means of the ‘periphrastic’ more in the case of others, like esthetic, or, again, the regular plural suffix [z] is an Allomorph by the side of the plural suffix [ən] in oxen. The availability of two levels of representation makes it possible to state that underlyingly the phonological form of the regular plural suffix is [z], even though in surface representations it shows up as [z], [s] and [ɪz] (Anderson 1974). Phonologically motivated morpheme alternation can thus be characterized as variation in the shape of the same underlying form in a way that differentiates such variation from cases in which the different phonological forms are unrelated, like more and -er, as well as from irregular forms, like went, the past tense form of go, for example, or feet, the plural form of foot. In such cases, the unpredictable Allomorphs must be listed in the lexicon, since there is no plausible phonological generalization which could account for them. While the case for a single underlying form for the English plural is intuitively very clear, there has been no answer to the general question when different forms should be related to a single underlying form and when they must be listed as separate word forms. Chomsky and Halle (1968) derived words like sane and sanity from the same underlying form [sǣn], just as profound and profundity are derived from a common [profūnd] (where the over-bar indicates tenseness)...
eBook - ePub- Mark Aronoff, Kirsten Fudeman(Authors)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
...3 Morphology and Phonology 3.1 Allomorphs 3.2 Prosodic Morphology 3.2.1 Phonotactic constraints 3.2.2 Root-and-pattern morphology 3.2.3 Reduplication 3.3 Primary and Secondary Affixes 3.4 Linguistic Exaptation, Leveling, and Analogy 3.5 Morphophonology and Secret Languages 3.6 Summary Kujamaat Jóola Morphophonology Vowel harmony A secondary affix Further Reading This chapter explores some of the many interactions that take place between morphology and phonology. These interactions and the grammar that describes them are often called morphophonology or morphophonemics. We begin by looking at phonological processes such as assimilation and the effect they have on the shapes of morphemes. We then consider limitations on the phonological shape of morphological entities such as words and stems. From there we move on to two general types of affixes that are distinguished, in part, by phonological criteria. Their phonological behavior reveals details about their underlying structure and the point at which they attach to their bases. We conclude with a look at secret languages in which morphology and phonology interact to disguise the shapes of words. We wrote in the preface that we expect our readers to have the rudimentary knowledge of linguistics that comes from taking an introductory course. To understand the discussion in this chapter, you need to know three terms that are often not introduced in such courses. They are onset, nucleus, and coda. The onset of a syllable is made up of the first consonant or consonants. The nucleus is the syllable’s core, usually a simple vowel or a diphthong. The coda is made up of the consonant or consonants that follow the nucleus. All syllables must have nuclei. Onsets and codas are optional, though some languages require the former. 3.1 Allomorphs The term ‘Allomorph’ was introduced in the first chapter, in two contexts...
eBook - ePubLanguage and the Lexicon
An Introduction
- David Singleton(Author)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...These irreducible entities are known as morphemes. In this chapter we shall examine how morphemes function, how they are customarily classified and how they relate to the lexicon. 3.2 Morphemes and Allomorphs Morphemes can be defined as the smallest elements of any language which have semantic and/or grammatical significance. As we have seen, some morphemes are also whole words – fish, for example, whereas others are units below the level of the word which nevertheless have their own meaning and/or grammatical function in the context of the words in which they occur, for example - es in fishes, - y in fishy. Morphemes which can stand alone as words are known as free morphemes while morphemes which can only be meaningful or functional as parts of words are known as bound morphemes. Bound morphemes very often manifest themselves as prefixes – elements attached at the beginnings of words (e.g. dis - as in disobey) – or as suffixes – elements attached at the ends of words (e.g. - ize as in idolize). Prefixes and suffixes are known collectively as affixes. Other kinds of affixes to be found in the world’s languages include infixes and circumfixes. Infixes are elements attached within the free morpheme bases of words; for example in Bontoc, a language of the Philippines, the infix - um - makes a verb out of an adjective or noun (thus, fikas – ‘strong’, fumikas ‘to be strong’). Circumfixes are elements which ‘surround’ the relevant base; for instance, in Chickasaw, a Native American language, the negative is formed by the alteration of the base both fore and aft (thus, lakna – ‘it is hot’, iklakno – ‘it is not hot’)...
eBook - ePubSign Languages
Structures and Contexts
- Joseph Hill, Diane Lillo-Martin, Sandra Wood(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Chapter 3 Morphology In this chapter, we continue our discussion of sign language grammar, turning to the domain of morphology. Morphology is the study of words, so in this chapter, we will look at how words are made in American Sign Language (ASL). We will discuss the ways that new words are formed, how words are modified, and the role of iconicity in ASL. The chapter also includes discussion of the way that the signing space is integrated in signs, and some morphological devices that seem to be special to sign languages. 3.1 What is morphology? Morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies how words are formed from component parts. A morpheme is generally described as a consistent pairing of form (e.g., a sequence of sounds or a combination of handshape, location, and movement) and meaning, but there are morphemes that change their form in different contexts as well as those that don’t seem to have a consistent meaning. In spoken languages such as English, there are many words that are themselves a single morpheme, such as “cat,” “elephant,” “and,” and “behind.” Bear in mind that in English, a morpheme can have one, two, or more syllables – they are completely different notions. Words that contain two morphemes include “cats,” “walking,” and “rewrite.” The plural marking -s on “cats,” the progressive -ing on “walking,” and the prefix re- in “rewrite” contribute an additional morpheme that either makes a word fit a particular context (the usual role of inflectional morphology), or changes the word into a new type with a new meaning (the usual role of derivational morphology). In addition to inflectional and derivational morphology, word formation is a component of morphology. Word formation encompasses the various ways that new words are added to a language...
eBook - ePubApplying Linguistics in the Classroom
A Sociocultural Approach
- Aria Razfar, Joseph C. Rumenapp(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...6 Morphology Building Words with English Learners Learning Goals Summarize the basic concepts of morphology. Identify morphological processes. Understand different types of morphological systems in the world’s languages. Understand the difficulties ELs may have in learning English morphology. Use derivational and inflectional rules in the classroom. Create a case study to analyze a particular topic in morphology. Use morphological concepts in discourse analysis. KEY TERMS/IDEAS: morpheme, lexeme, lexicon, derivation, inflection, agglutinating, fusional, isolating, nominalization In Chapter 5 we discussed the syntax, or grammar of language. Morphology is a related field in linguistics. Sometimes it is very difficult to distinguish what belongs to syntax and what belongs to morphology because there is much overlap. What one language does in syntax, like through changes in word order as seen in the last chapter, another may do through morphology, by changing the word itself. Therefore, it is often better to think about both fields together, as morphosyntax. In Chapter 5, we focused more on how words (in the discrete analytic sense) relate to each other. In this chapter, we will examine how words are built internally to create distinct meaningful units. Morphology is the study of a language’s morphemes and the rules governing its transformations for communicative purposes. Morphemes consist of words, affixes, intonation, stress, and their implied or explicit contexts of use. In this chapter we will see how the traditional concept of “word,” especially in the isolated sense, constrains our view of how we learn, develop, and actually use language to make meaning. As we learn about the ELs in our classrooms, we need to be aware of the complexities of languages in the world. If we look at language only through our “English eyes” we will certainly misunderstand the way language is used by ELs...
eBook - ePubLinguistics for Language Teachers
Lessons for Classroom Practice
- Sunny Park-Johnson, Sarah J. Shin(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...This chapter will show how knowledge of the principles of word formation can facilitate students’ learning of new vocabulary and what teachers can do to help students acquire this knowledge. 4.2 Morphemes The most important part of the word is the morpheme, the smallest linguistic unit with a meaning or a grammatical function. Morphemes are important because all languages use them as building blocks to construct words. The word teacher, for example, consists of two morphemes: teach (with the meaning of “give instruction in”) and -er (which indicates that the whole word functions as a noun with the meaning “one who teaches”). Similarly, the word schools is composed of the morphemes school (with the meaning of “an institution where instruction is given”) and -s (with the meaning “more than one”). Some words are made up of a single morpheme. Such words are said to be simple words. For example, the word happy cannot be divided into smaller parts that carry information about its meaning or function. Thus, the word happy consists of a single morpheme. In contrast, the word impersonal is made up of three morphemes, im-person-al. Words that contain two or more morphemes like impersonal are said to be complex words. It is important to not confuse morphemes with syllables. The word happy [hæ.pi] is one morpheme but has two syllables. The word impersonal [ɪm.pʌr.sə.nəl] is composed of three morphemes but has four syllables (note that the “.” in the phonetic transcriptions marks syllable boundaries). Remember that a morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit with a meaning or a grammatical function. Complex words typically consist of a root morpheme and one or more affixes. The root is the primary lexical unit of a word that carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller parts...
