Difference between revisions of "Allomorph"

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===Other languages===
 
===Other languages===
German [[Allomorphe]] Chinese [[语素变体]]
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German [[Allomorph (de)]] Chinese [[语素变体]]
  
 
===Reference===
 
===Reference===

Revision as of 18:47, 17 June 2008

A particular morpheme is not represented everywhere by the same morph, but by different morphs in different environments. These alternative representation of a morpheme is called allomorphs.

Examples

The plural morpheme in English is regularly represented by the allomorphs [s], [z] and [iz]. The rule is as follows:

(i) kicks [kiks];

(ii) if the morph ends in one of the voiced phonemes (including the vowels), /s/ is represented by [z] (cats [kats]);

(iii) if the morph representing the noun morpheme with which /s/ is combined to form the plural ends with a sibilant ([s], [z] etc.), /s/ is represented by [iz] (sizes [saiziz]).

Other languages

German Allomorph (de) Chinese 语素变体

Reference

Lyons, John. 1968. Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.