What’s an allomorph?

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An allomorph is a different phonological version of a morpheme. This occurs when the surface detail of the morpheme is different, but the deeper meaning remains the same. This commonly occurs when letters that serve the same function, such as plurality or tense, make a different sound or use different letters. Examples of plural allomorphs include the difference between “pots” and “fees.” The study of allomorphs is part of the study of morphology in linguistics.

A morpheme is a basic unit for representing meaning in a language. These meanings can be both lexical, as they provide information, and structural. Intolerant, for example, has three morphemes: in-tolerant-ant. All three elements of intolerant are lexical morphemes. ‘Toler’ is the root meaning the ability to bear or embrace something. The morpheme “in” means there is no tolerance and the “ant” at the end indicates someone who is intolerant.

There are different types of morpheme. Free morphemes can exist as a word in their own right. An example of this is the break in unbreakable. On the other hand, morphemes like ‘toler’ in tolerant are bound morphemes because they cannot exist unless modified by other morphemes. Allomorph is a bound morpheme that occurs only to modify a root word.

The plural noun form is a common example used to explain an allomorph. Consider the difference in the sound of the “s” of “pots”, “dogs”, and “taxes” when spoken aloud. The “s” in “pots” sounds like a phonetic (-s), while the “s” in “dogs” is more like a phonetic (-z). The “es” of taxes, with the “e” used to separate the “x” and the “s”, is a phonetic (

Dative morphemes used with verbs can also become allomorphic. The regular allomorphic past is ‘-ed.’ There is a difference in sound between ‘wanted’, ‘liced’ and ‘dashed’. As with plurals, each variation has a different sound while appearing to be the same on paper. The first is a phonetic (-ed), the second (d) and the third

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