Morphemes and Allomorphs

Allomorphs

Morpheme

  • Minimal unit of meaning
  • A speech element having a meaning or grammatical function that cannot be subdivided into further such elements
  • It has relatively the same stable meaning in different verbal environments.
  • Words can have one or more morphemes
  • An allomorph is a variant phonetic form of a morpheme
  • Variation within morphemes
  • It depends on the phonological environment
  • It depends on historical developments
  • Only in pronunciation, not writing

Morpheme - Allomorph


Phoneme - Allophone

PAST TENSE

PLURAL

[z]

[s]

ˈmeetsˈ

ˈisˈ

[ɪz]

[əz]

ˈboxesˈ

[bɔxəz]

[mɪts]

[d]

[t]

[əd]

ˈwalkedˈ

ˈsmelledˈ

ˈvisitedˈ

[wakt]

[smeld]

[vizitid]

IN

[ɪŋ]

[ɪn]

[ɪm]

ˈinnateˈ

ˈincapableˈ

ˈimpatientˈ

[ɪmˈpeɪʃnt]

[ɪˈneɪt]

ɪŋˈkeɪpəbl