22 alternative set

usual symbol for alternation is ~. In phonology, for example, the related

vowel qualities of such words as telegraph ~ telegraphic, receive ~ reception
are sometimes described as alternants, as are the various allophones of a
phoneme. The term has had particular currency in morphology, however,
where morphemic/morpheme alternant is another term for allomorph, and
where various subtypes have been distinguished. For example, phonologically
conditioned alternants are illustrated in the various forms of the plural mor-
pheme (/-s/, /-z/, /-iz/), which are predictable from the preceding phonological
context (morphophonemic alternants). Grammatically conditioned alternants
are cases where there is no such rationale, the occurrence of an alternant depend-
ing entirely on the particular morphemes which occur in its environment, as
in the various forms of the past participle in English (frozen, jumped, etc.).
suppletion is another category of alternation, referring to a morpheme lacking
any regular phonological correspondence with other forms in a paradigm, as in
go ~ went. In syntax, examples of sets of alternants can be seen in the various
grammatical categories, such as tense (e.g. present ~ past ~ future).

alternative set A term used in relation to the semantics of focus for the set
of items with which the denotation of a focused constituent contrasts. For
example, in the sentence It was Mary who arrived late, the alternative set for
Mary would include individuals other than Mary whom one might have
expected would arrive late, but did not.

alveolar (adj.) A term in the classification of consonant sounds on the basis

of their place of articulation: it refers to a sound made by the blade of the
tongue (or the tip and blade together) in contact against the alveolar ridge (or
alveolum), which is the bony prominence immediately behind the upper teeth. A
number of sounds are given an alveolar articulation in English [t], [d], [l], [n],
[s] and [z]. If the sound is articulated towards the back of the alveolar ridge,
near where the palate begins, the term post-alveolar can be used. In English the
r in red, trip, drill is articulated in post-alveolar position.

alveopalatal, alveo-palatal (adj.) A term used in the phonetic classification of

speech sounds on the basis of their place of articulation: it refers to a sound
made by the front of the tongue a little in advance of the palatal articu-
latory area, i.e. in the direction of alveolar articulations; also called alveolo-
palatal. Only two such sounds are distinguished in the international phonetic
alphabet, the fricatives [] and [], which occur for example in Polish.

ambifix (n.) see affix

ambiguity (n.) The general sense of this term, referring to a word or sentence
which expresses more than one meaning (is ambiguous), is found in linguis-
tics, but several types of ambiguity are recognized. The most widely discussed
type is grammatical (or structural) ambiguity. In phrase-structure ambiguity,
alternative constituent structures can be assigned to a construction, as
in new houses and shops, which could be analysed either as new [houses and
shops] (i.e. both are new) or [new houses] and shops (i.e. only the houses
are new). In transformational ambiguity, the sentence may have a similar