2024/2 PBI Introduction to Linguistics

E. Definition of Allomorphs

An allomorph is a linguistics term for a variant form of a morpheme. The concept occurs when a unit of meaning can vary in sound (phonologically) without changing meaning. It is used in linguistics to explain the comprehension of variations in sound for a specific morpheme. Allomorphs frequently happen that a particular morpheme is not represented everywhere by the same morph, but by different morphs in different environments. The alternative phonological manifestations or representations of such a morpheme are called allomorphs, or „morpheme alternates‟ or „morpheme variants‟. Gleason defines allomorphs as, “a variant of a morpheme which occurs in certain definable. The version of a morpheme as actually realized in speech or writing, e.g. –s,-es, and –en are all allomorphs (in writing) of the plural morpheme.

Allomorph has different in pronunciation and spelling according to their condition. It means that allomorph will have different sound, pronunciation or spelling in different condition. Examples:

At the table of examples above, we can see that allomorph is a variant sound, of one morpheme. It has different pronunciation and spelling, but it still has same meaning. See the example bellow: Incapable Illogical Impossible “In-”, “Il-” and “Im-” at the words above are the variant sound of “In-”. Although it has different sound and spelling, it is still similar in meaning that is negative.

Formal Features Of The Four Parts Of Speech The four parts of speech – nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs – have their own formal features by which we can recognize them. The formal features can be divided into two parts: the inflectional suffixes and derivational affixes. Here, we can look the allomorph in inflectional suffixes (noun and verb).

1) Noun Inflectional suffixes

Nouns in English have two inflectional suffixes. They are: the plural (Z1 ) and the possessive or genitive {Z2}. The plural inflection {Z1} has three allomorphs {s~z~iz} and a group of irregular ones, including { } (zero). The first three allomorphs of the plural suffix (Z1 ) are distributed as follows: {s} appears with nouns ending in voiceless consonants, except /s, š, č/;{ z} appears with nouns ending in voiced consonants, except /z, ž, ĵ/; and {iz} appears with nouns ending in sibilants and affricatives /s,š, z, ž, č, ĵ/. Examples: Books /bUks/ Roses /roUziz/ Cups /k˄ps/ Houses /haUziz/ Dogs /dogz/ Churches /č :čiz/ Cars /ka:z/ Bridges /briĵiz/ The possessive suffix {Z2} has four allomorphs: {s~z~iz~}. 

The first three allomorphs have the same distribution as the allomorphs of the plural suffix {Z1} and { } appears with noun and proper nouns ending in /s/ or /z/. Examples:

The table‟s legs The men‟s hats The tables‟ legs John‟s books The man‟s hat alice‟s hair 

2) Verbs Inflectional Suffixes 

English verbs have four inflectional suffixes: the third person singular present tense inflectional suffix {Z3}, the past tense inflectional suffix {D1}, the past participle inflectional suffix {D2}, and the present participle inflectional suffix {iȠ1}. The third person singular inflectional suffix {Z3}has three allomorphs, (s~z~iz), which have the same distribution as the three allomorphs of the plural inflectional suffix {Z1}. The past tense inflectional suffix {D1} has three allomorphs, (t~d~id), which have the same distribution as the three regular allomorphs of {Z1}. A large number of English verbs have these regular allomorphs of the past tense inflectional suffix {D1}. However, there are many English verbs which have irregular allomorphs of the past tense inflectional suffix {D1}. They are as follows:

a) Some English verbs whose base forms already end in /t/ or /d/ have a { } allomorphs, e.g. set, put, hit, shed, spread, etc. 

b) Some English verbs make the past tense form with a change of vowel in the base and the { } allomorphs of {D1}, e.g. ride-rode, give-gave, take-took, drinkdrank, etc. 

c) Some English verbs which add the {t} allomorphs of {D1}show morphophonemic change in the base, e.g. sleep-slept, teach-taught, buy-bought, etc. 

d) Some English verbs which add the {d}allomorphs of {D1}show morphophonemic change in the base e.g. sell-sold, flee-fled, do-did, have-had, etc. 

e) Some English verbs have {t}instead of the regular {d}after the voice consonants /m, n, l/ these verbs can be divided into two groups: 

1. Those that add /t/ to the end of the base, sometimes with a change of the stem vowel, e.g. spill-spilt, dream-dreamt, etc.: most of these have also regular forms in {d}, e.g. burned, dreamed. 

2. Those that drop a final /d/ before adding {t},e.g. bend-bent, build-built, etc.

3) Adjective Inflectional Suffixes 

There are only two inflectional suffixes adjectives can take, namely, {-er} and {-est} to form the comparative and superlative degrees, e.g.: Big – bigger – biggest Large – larger – largest Long – longer – longest Derivational Affixes a) Many English adjectives are formed by adding the suffixes {-ly, -ish, -al, -ous, -ic, -ar, -ary, -ful, -less, -like, - ate, -en, and D2} to nouns, e.g.: cloudy, dirty, friendly, lovely, foolish, childish, emotional, optional, famous, religious, historic, syntactic, spectacular, muscular, visionary, documentary, peaceful, powerful, faithless, powerless, lifelike, warlike, fortunate, compassionate, wooden, golden, skilled, wretched, etc. b) Many adjectives are formed by adding the suffixes {- ent, -ant, -ive, -able, -some, -ory, and, -en} to verb stems, e.g.: confident, excellent, observant, pleasant, creative, selective, readable, payable, meddlesome, winsome, regulatory, winsome, regulatory, congratulatory, molten swollen, etc.

4) Adverb Inflectional Suffixes 

Like adjectives, adverbs also have two inflectional suffixes, {-er} and {-est}, to form the comparative and superlative degrees, e.g: Fast – faster – fastest Hard – harder – hardest Late – later – latest Derivation Affixes 

a) Many English adverbs are form by adding the suffix {- ly2} and the prefix {a-} to adjective stems, e.g.: happily, politely, hopefully, normally, abroad, along, aloud, around, etc. 

b) Some English adverbs are formed by adding the prefix {a-} and the suffixes {-ly2} and {-ward} to noun stems, e.g.: away, aboard, ahead, apart, across, daily, hourly, weekly, monthly, yearly, seaward, westward, etc.