This document discusses allomorphs, which are different phonological forms of a single morpheme. It provides examples of morphemes with multiple allomorphs conditioned by their phonetic environment, such as the past tense morpheme {-d} having allomorphs /-d/, /-t/, /-əd/. The document also discusses types of allomorphs like additive, replacive, and suppletive allomorphs. Formulas are presented to represent morphemes and their allomorphs, noting tildes for phonological alternation and infinity signs for morphological alternation. Exercises are provided to have the reader identify allomorphs and explain their conditioning.

1. LANE 333 -
MORPHOLOGY
2012 – Term 1
ALLOMORPHS 6
By: http://SBANJAR.kau.edu.sa/
Dr. Shadia Y. Banjar http://wwwdrshadiabanjar.blogspot.com
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2. Morphemes and Allomorphs
PAST TENSE: called [d], talked [t], glided [ǝd]
MORPHEME:
[-d]
ALLOMORPHS:
/-d/ /-t/ /-ǝd/
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3. Morphemes and Allomorphs
Plural formation: desks [s], cars [z], buses [ǝz]
MORPHEME:
[-s]
ALLOMORPHS:
/-s/ /-z/ /-ǝz/
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4. Morphemes and Allomorphs
The negative [in-]: insane [in] , incomplete [iŋ], impossible [im], illegal [il],
[in- [iŋ
iŋ], [im
im], [il
il],
[ir
ir].
irrevocable [ir].
MORPHEME:
[in-]
/in-/ /iŋ-/ /im-/ /il-/ /ir-/
ALLOMORPHS:
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5. ALLOMORPHS:
VARIATIONS OF MORPHEMES
DEFINITION:
An allomorph is ‘any of the different forms of a
morpheme’.
[Richards, Platt & Weber, 1987: 9]
EXAMPLE: long, length
MORPHEME FREE ALLOMORPH BOUND ALLOMORPH
{long} /lƆŋ/ /lɛŋ-/
ɛŋ-
ɛŋ
NOTE: a morpheme may have more than
one phonemic form.
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6. SELECTION OF ALLOMORPHS:
•The past-tense ending , the morpheme {-D pt}, has
three phonemic forms.
{-D pt} •The choice depends on the preceding sound.
ǝd/
•After an alveolar stop /t/ or /d/, the allomorph /-ǝd/
/-ǝd/ as in parted
ǝd/ takes place as in parted /partǝd/.
partǝd/
/partǝd/
partǝd/ •After a voiceless consonant other than /t/, the
After
ӕft/.
allomorph /-t/takes place as in laughed/lӕft/.
takes
ӕst/
/-t/as in passed/pӕst/ •After a voiced consonant other than /d/, the
After
allomorph /-d/ takes place as in begged/bɛgd/.ɛ d
/-d/ as in seemed /simd/ •The occurrence of one or another of them
The
depends on its phonological environment.
environment.
This
•This pattern of occurrence is called
complementary distribution.
distribution.
NOTE: These three phonemic forms of {-Dpt} are not
interchangeable. They are positional variants. They
are allomorphs belong to the same morpheme.
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7. •It must be emphasized that many morphemes
in English have only one phonemic form, that
is, one allomorph – for example, the
morpheme {boy} and {-hood} each has one
allomorph - /bŦy/ and /-hUd/ - as in boyhood.
•It is really not the morpheme but the
allomorph that is free or bound.
•For example the morpheme {louse} has two
allomorphs: the free allomorph /laws/ as in
the singular noun louse , and the bound
allomorph /lawz-/ as in the adjective lousy.
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8. TYPES OF ALLOMORPHS
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9. 1. ADDITIVE ALLOMORPHS:
To signify some difference in meaning, something is added to a word. For example, the
past tense form of most English verbs is formed by adding the suffix –ed which can
ƽ
be pronounced as either /–t/, /–d/ or /–ƽd/:
ask + –ed = /a:sk/ + /–t/, liv(e) + –ed =/lΙv/ + /–d/, need + –ed =/ni:d/ + /–ƽd/.
2. REPLACIVE ALLOMORPHS:
To signify some difference in meaning, a sound is used to replace another sound in a
word. For example, the /Ι/ in drink is replaced by the /æ/ in drank to signal the simple
past. This is symbolized as follows:
/drænk/ = /drΙnk/ + / Ι > æ /.
3. SUPPLETIVE ALLOMORPHS:
To signify some difference in meaning, there is a complete change in the shape of a word.
For example:
go + the suppletive allomorph of {–D pt} = went;
be + the suppletive allomorph of {–S 3d} = is;
bad + the suppletive allomorph of {–ER cp} = worse;
good + the suppletive allomorph of {–EST sp} = best.
4. THE ZERO ALLOMORPH:
There is no change in the shape of a word though some difference in meaning is
identified. For example, the past tense form of hurt is formed by adding the zero
allomorph of {–D pt} to this word.
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10. Allomorph
Phonologically Lexically
Morphologically Suppletion
Conditioned Conditioned
e.g. Plurals
Conditioned is an extreme form of
e.g. Plural forms in sheep, oxen allomorph in which two
where the choice of the
English (each one has a completely different roots
allomorphs -ceive- or -
different form and cept- is systematically realize the same morpheme.
|s| cats
cannot be determined by the
ǝ
|ǝz| glasses predicted) morphemes added to Examples are
|z| dogs them: go | went
Be | is| was | were | am
a. receiver, Good | better | best
receivable; Bad | worse | worst
deceiver, One | first
deceivable; Two | second
conceivable
b. reception,
receptive;
deception;
concept,
conception,
conceptual
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11. Sing
/siŋ/
siŋ/
Walk
Sang
/wƆk/
Ɔk/
Ɔk
/sӕŋ/
/sӕ
[past]
/d/
A schematic representation of the lexicon as the irregular allomorphs are
stored as distinct lexical entries, while the regular past tense form is
derived by combining the stored stem and the stored past tense
morpheme according to the regular rule. (Linnaea C. Stockall, 1999).
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12. Formula
ƽ
{-D pt} = /-ƽd/ ~ /-t/ ~ /-d/
• Braces {} are used for morphemes;
• Slants // for allomorphs;
• a tilde ~ means “ phonological alternation”.
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13. Formula
{-S pl} = /-ƽz/ ~ /-z/ ~ /-s/ ∞ /-ƽn/ ∞ /ø/
ƽ ƽ
• Braces {} are used for morphemes;
• Slants // for allomorphs;
• a tilde ~ means “ phonological alternation”.
• ∞ means “ morphological alternation”.
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14. Formula
{be}+{-D pt} = /wƽz/ ∞ / wƽr/
ƽ ƽ
• Braces {} are used for morphemes;
• Slants // for allomorphs;
• a tilde ~ means “ in alternation with”.
• ∞ means “ morphological alternation”.
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15. THE EXERCISES OF ALLOMORPHS
EXERCISE 1: Explain why ‘a’ and ‘an’ are two
allomorphs of the same morpheme.
EXERCISE 2: Identify the allomorphs of the
inflectional verb past simple morpheme
{−Dpt} in the verb ‘be’. How are they
conditioned?
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