ALLOMORPH

giyatmi
DEFINITION
 Allomorph is variant form of morpheme about the
sounds and phonetic symbols but it doesn't’t change the
meaning.
 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.
KINDS OF ALLOMORPH
 There are three types of allomorph: phonologically
conditioned allomorph
morphologically conditioned allomorph
lexically conditioned allomorph
PHONOLOGICAL CONDITIONED
ALLOMORPH

 The choice of allomorph is predictable on the basis of the

pronunciation.
 Examples:

Allomorph of the indefinite article

“an” (Before the vowel sounds)
“a” (before the consonant sounds)
 Allomorph of the regular past tense morpheme (-d/-ed)
1) /id/ after the verb ending with sounds /t,d/
2) /t/ after all other voiceless sounds /ch f h k p s sh t θ(th
in think): picked
3) /d/ after all other voiced sounds /b d g j l m n ŋ(ng) r v
z ð(th in the) and all vowels: wedge
 Allomorph of the third singular person in simple present
tense morpheme (-s/-es)
1) /s/ after the verb ending with voiceless sounds /ch f h k
p s sh t θ(th in think) : taps
2) /z/ after the verbs ending with voiced sounds /b d g j l
m n ŋ(ng) r v z ð(th in the) and all vowels : sings
3) /iz/ after the verbs ending with sibilant sounds :
watches
 Allomorph of the regular plural forms (-s/-es)
1) /s/ after the nouns ending with voiceless sounds /ch f h
k p s sh t θ(th in think) : cats
2) /z/ after the nouns ending with voiced sounds /b d g j l
m n ŋ(ng) r v z ð(th in the) and all vowels : beds
3) /iz/ after the nouns ending with sibilant sounds :
watches
MORPHOLOGICAL CONDITIONED
ALLOMORPH
 The choice of allomorph is determined by particular
morphemes, not just by their pronunciation.
 Examples:

–sume in changes to –sumpt- in (consume =

consumption),
produce = production, reduce = reduction, solve =
solution, decide = desicion,
receive = receiptive
LEXICALLY CONDITIONED ALLOMORPH
 The choice of allomorph is unpredictable, thus
memorized on a word by word basis.
 Examples :

ox = oxen
sheep = sheep