nha2 - ic- allomorphs

8/3/2019 NHA2 - IC- allomorphs

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Immediate contituents

Language is said to be of constituency inwhich a particular construction is divided intoa series of constituents.

Immediate constituents are any of the twomeaningful parts forming a larger linguistic

units to show layers of word structure, we make

successive divisions into 2 parts, each of

which is called an immediate constituent(IC). This division is called IC division. Theprocess is continues until all componentmorphemes of a word, the ultimate

constituents, have been isolated.


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II> Recommendations on IC division

1. when a word ends in an inflectional suffix, the

first division should be between this suffix and therest of the wordE.g.: pre dict tion s

2. one of the ICs should be a free morphemeor ameaningful constructionE.g.: un touch able un touch able

3. the meaningof the ICs should be relatedto themeaning of the word.E.g.: rest art re start


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III> Tree diagram

Is a two-dimensional branching one usedas a tool to display internal hierarchicalstructure of a construction as generated by

a set of rules.

In a more elaborate way: it shows that oneunit consists of two subunits. These two

subunits come in a fixed order.


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noun

adjective noun

black board

adjective

noun

pre school

[Kuiper & Allan, 1996:156-158]


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ExercisesRepresent the following words in both tree diagrams

and IC divisions bookworm

singer

misplay

derailments

internationalisation

unanalysable

inexcusable prewar

uninterested

confusions


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AllomorphsDefinition & characteristics

E.g.: the regular plural inflection -shas 3different pronunciation forms :

oranges: /iz/

books : /s/chairs /z/

All /iz/, /s/ and /z/ are the different phonemic

forms/pronunciations of the samemorpheme: noun plural inflectionalmorpheme {s.pl.}={S1}

Are allomorphs of the plural inflection

s


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-Allomorphs are variantsof a morpheme in aparticular environment.

-all have the same meaningand function

grammatically identically.E.g. the allomorphs /iz/, /s/ and/z/ of plural morpheme

all mean more than one and signifies plurality.

- are in complementary distribution (CD): a member

of a set of allomorphs of a particular morpheme canonly occur in a certain phonetic environment; eachone occupies its own territory.

E.g.: -the allomorph /iz/ or /6z/) of the N plural

morpheme occurs only when the root ends in asibilant consonant.

-the allomorph /z/ only occurs after voiced sounds,except /z/, /2 /, //

-the allomorph /s/ only occurs after voiceless sounds


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Conditioning of allomorphs

1/ Phonologically conditioned selection ofallomorphs

E.g.: the class-maintaining derivationalmorpheme {in-} has 3 different phonemic

forms:

imperfect /1m/: before a bilabial phoneme/p,b.m/

incompliance /17 /: before a velar consonant /k,g,7 /

intolerance /1n/: before an alveolar consonant

/t d s z n / or before a vowel


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An allomorph is phonologically conditionedwhen its distribution is determined by the

phonological environment(by a precedingor following phoneme).

When its phonological properties are similarto the sounds found in a neighboringenvironment of some other morphemes.

E.g.: the regular plural noun (girl-girls), thethird-person singular present-tense (teach-

teaches), the possessive (girl-girls), the past

tense (stay-stayed), and the past participle

morphemes (move-moved).


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2/Morphologically conditioned selectionof allomorphs

E.g.: deer /d16 /+/-/ deer /d16/

ox /4ks / + -en /6n / oxen /4ks6n //-/ and /6n / are morphologically conditionedallomorphs of the inflectional noun plural

morpheme {s.pl.}

Note: Formula of the allomorphs of {-s pl}:

{-s pl}=/6z/ ~ /-z/ ~ /-s/ /-6n/ /-/~: phonologically conditioned alternation

: morphologically conditioned alternation


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When its distribution is determined by a specificmorpheme or morphemes forming the context,rather than by any phonological feature

E.g.: -irregular plural morphemes(e.g. geese,women, children- plural allomorphs of goose,woman, and child),

-irregular third-person singular present-tenseallomorphs(e.g. is, does, has- allomorphs of be, doand havein present tense for the third person)

-irregular past tense(e.g. met, drove, ateof meet,driveand eat)

-irregular past participle allomorphs(e.g. driven, eaten,swumof drive, eatand swim)


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III Kinds of allomorphs

1/ Additives

- are variant forms of a suffix added to a rootto indicaterelationships demanded by grammar.

- Usually consist of the allomorphs of regular pluralmorpheme, of possessive morpheme, of the third personsingular present tense morpheme, of regular past tense/pastparticiple morphemes.

- E.g.: the third person singular present tense form of Englishverbs (except the three verbs be, doand have) is formed byadding to the verb root the suffix s which has three

allomorphs /iz/, /s/ and /z (see also phonological rule): place + -s /ple1s6s/

look + -s /l$ks/

run + -s /r^nz/


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2/Sound changes/ Replacive allomorphs

may be either vowel changes(replacive vowels) orconsonant changes(replacive consonants); byreplacing another sound in a word to signify somedifference in meaning.

Vowel changes occur in the root.E.g.: the past tense met / met / = /mi:t/ + / i: >e/

Consonant changes occur root-finallyE.g.: the past tense lent/lent/ = /lend/ + /d>t/ combination of a change of vowel root and a

change of root-final consonant

E.g.: the past tense form taught/t0:t / = / ti:t~ / + / i: > 0:/+ /t~ > t/

combination of a vowel change and additionE.g.: the past tense form felt/felt/ = /fi:l/ + / i: >e/ + /t/

Some replacive allomorphs are infixes (drink-drank)


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3/Suppletive allomorphs

are grammatical variants of a morpheme whichhave a complete change of word shape.

E.g.:

-the past tense form went/went/ =go/g6$/+suppletive allomorph of {-d.pt.}

-the comparative form better/bet6/ = good /g$d/+ suppletive allomorph of {-ER cp.}


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4/Zero allomorphs

When there is no change of word shapeof two grammatically related forms althoughthere is some difference in meaning can befound.

E.g.: the past tense and past participleforms of the verb readare the same as thisverb root.

read /red/ = /ri:d/ + /i:>e/ + /-/


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5/ Subtractive allomorphs

Something is deleted from a word tosignify some difference in meaning.

E.g.: zopa zop: signifies that thisRussian noun is in the plural form of thepossessive case

There is no examples of this kind inEnglish


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Exercise: Give the morphemic structure &identify the allomorphs

1. (a) fishfish2. shelf shelves

3. wousemice

4. sink

sank5. bringbrought

6. teachteaches

7. bewas/were

8. childchildren

9. spendspent

10. longlength

nha2 - ic- allomorphs

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