LING 320 Fall 2023 Week 4

Allomorphy
Prof. Bronwyn Bjorkman

AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK

• Assignment 1
• SyncreCsm: Review
• UnderspecificaCon, Ordering, & “elsewhere” forms (last week’s handout)
• Introducing Allomorphy: one meaning/funcCon to mulCple forms

1. From Syncre9sm to Allomorphy

→ Humboldt’s Universal (hypotheCcal)

→ SyncreCsm: one phonological form maps to mulCple meanings/funcCons

Example: Russian third person nominaCve pronouns

(Russian is a Slavic language, spoken primiarly in Russia)

SG PL
M on oni
F ona oni
N ono oni

TOOL for modeling this: Underspecifica9on

Also need: the Elsewhere Principle and the Subset Principle

→ TODAY is going to be all about allomorphy: one meaning/funcCon has mulCple phonological forms

2. Types of Allomorphy: The Realiza9on of English Plurals

PART A

i. cat ~ cat-[s] ii. dog ~ dog-[z] iii. bus ~ bus-[əz]

dock ~ dock-[s] hound ~ hound-[z] maze ~ maze-[əz]
pot ~ pot-[s] blob ~ blob-[z] church ~ church-[əz]
cuff ~ cuff-[s] cove ~ cove-[z] garage ~ garage-[əz]
bath ~ bath-[s] pie ~ pie-[z] wish ~ wish-[əz]
PART B

child ~ children
ox ~ oxen
fish ~ fish
alumnus ~ alumni
fungus ~ fungi

PART C

leaf ~ lea[v]-[z]
wolf ~ wol[v]-[z]
half ~ hal[v]-[z]
house ~ hou[z]-[əz]
booth ~ boo[ð]-[z]
path ~ pa[ð]-[z]
moth ~ mo[ð]-[z]

PART D

person ~ people

Types of allomorphy, and crucial concepts

• True allomorphy vs. surface allomorphy

• Morphophonological allomorphy vs. suppleCve allomorphy (aka suppleCon)

• Undergoer vs. trigger

• The Elsewhere Principle

How to choose an analysis:
1. General > specific
2. Surface > true
3. Morphophonology > suppleCon

3. More Prac9ce

A. Korean nomina9ve case

Korean is a language isolate, spoken primarily in South Korea and North Korea.

B. English compara9ve & superla9ve:

good ~ beier ~ best (cf. high ~ higher ~ highest)

bad ~ worse ~ worst

C. Hai9an Creole determiner:

HaCan Creole (aka Kreyòl) is a Romance language spoken primarily in HaiC.

panie ‘basket’ ~ paniea ‘the basket’

trou ‘hole’ ~ troua ‘the hole’
chẽ ‘dog’ ~ chẽã ‘the dog’
piCt ‘child’ ~ piCtla ‘the child’
ãj ‘angel’ ~ ãjla ‘the angel’
madãm ‘lady’ ~ madãmla ‘the lady’

Summary: Cataloging our tools…

• Morphemes
• ConcatenaCon
• UnderspecificaCon of realizaCons (leading to syncreCsm)
• Contextually constrained choice among realizaCons (leading to allomorphy)
• Subset Principle and ordering of realizaCon rules
• Elsewhere Principle
• Phonological rules