ALLOMORPHS

Group members: Nurashikin binti Md. Said Nurul Nazifah binti Mansor Nur Rashidah binti Jalaludin Nurul Janah binti Abd. Wahab Lecturer : Pn. Hjh. Ashidah binti Hj. Asnan

Definition: alternative forms which carry the same meaning, but have different phonological shape. In other words, allomorphs are different forms of the same morpheme, or basic unit of meaning. These can be different pronunciations or different spellings.

Allomorphs
Example : There are three allomorphs of the morpheme -s in English. Compare the sound of the -s in cats', dogs' and foxes'. In the classroom, certain allomorphs are difficult for learners to produce correctly, for example the allomorphs of the -ed regular past morpheme, which learners often do not produce correctly until higher levels. Recognition activities such as sorting words into groups according to pronunciation are useful to raise awareness.

 Such variance occurs due to the phonological conditioning of the surrounding sounds. For example the s morpheme in English which indicates plurality or third person singular present tense has 3 allomorphs:
cat(s) /kaets/ dog (s)/dgz/ horse(s) /h:sz/

Thus, orthographically the same s manifestation holds, but phonologically, there are 3 variants, /s/, /z/ and /z/ making up the three allomorphs of the morpheme(s).

 Another example is the past tense morpheme ed with 3 allomorphs:

talked /t:kt/ juggled /dgld/ ended /endd/

The 3 allomorphs above are: /t/, /d/ and /d/.

 Other types of allomorphs are also the result of lexical conditioning. For example:
take => took see => saw dig => dug come => came

*all past tense depending on the lexical item.

(A Lexical item (or lexical unit, lexical entry) is a single word or chain of
words that forms the basic elements of a language's lexicon (vocabulary). Examples are "cat", "traffic light", "take care of", "by-the-way", and "it's raining cats and dogs". Lexical items can be generally understood to convey a single meaning).

Zero Allomorphs
Zero allomorph is term given to the unit involved when a morpheme changes status from one type of morpheme to another without any additional or subtraction of any of its parts. Zero allomorph is spoken of, therefore in a situation where there is no overt change in the term.

 It is indicated by sign { }. For example: sheep(singular) sheep (singular) + sheep (plural) sheep (plural)

The gender morpheme is yet another example in English where, along with {ess} morpheme and lexical change, the zero allomorph is used to indicate a change of morphemic status from masculine to the feminine gender.

 Thus we have:
Masculine Prince Steward Baron Priest Host lion Bull Drake Rooster Fox ram Doctor Clerk Driver Lawyer Giraffe Additional Morpheme feminine Princess Stewardess Baroness Priestess Hostess lioness Cow Duck Hen Vixen ewe

+ess

lexical change

Doctor Clerk + {zero allomorh} Driver Lawyer giraffe

 Thus gender morpheme in English is represented thus:

Mascullin + {less} feminine Masculine + {} feminine Masculine + lexical change feminine