Allomorph
An allomorph is a variant form of a morpheme; it's spelt the same, but pronounced differently.
Allomorphs of Bound Morphemes
(I'm not certain, but I think allomorphs are mostly bound morphemes)
Examples are the inflectional suffix "-ed":
- wanted = ud (the "u" is an indeterminate vowel sound)
- pushed = t
- died = d
Or the (also inflectional suffix) plural form:
- -/s/ = after voiceless sounds (e.g. lifts)
- -/z/ = after voiced sounds (e.g. trees)
- -/əz/ = after /sibiliants/ (e.g. pushes)
page revision: 5, last edited: 16 Mar 2011 04:14