Morphophonemics

Question 1

Allomorphy

Answer 1

• variant forms of a morpheme
• [e]/[en]
• [-s],[-z],[ez]

Question 2

How are allomorphs represented in the mental lexicon?

Answer 2

-there are two phonetic forms, but one underlying form
-UR /pəɹmɪt-jən/ - PR [pəɹmɪʃn̩ ]
-Allomorphs whose relation is phonologically unpredictable stored as separate underlying representations:
o PR [ɡow]~[wɛnt], UR /ɡo/, /wɛnt/)

Question 3

English plurals allomorphs

Answer 3

• alternation is phonologically predictable=allomorphs must share one UR
• [-əz] (or [-ɪz]):After sibilants

Question 4

Which of the allomorphs is the UR?

Answer 4

-allomorph that occurs in the widest set of environments is chosen to represent the UR of the morpheme (the assumption of economy: simpler rules are preferred)

Question 5

Total Assimilation

Answer 5

completely assimilates

Question 6

English past tense allomorphs

Answer 6

[-t] ~ [-d] ~ [-ed]
[-t]:ending in voiceless consonant (except /t/)
[-d]: ending in voiced consonants (except /d/) or vowels
[-ed] (or [-Id]): ending in alveolar stops