linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, an alternation is the phenomenon of a

morpheme A morpheme is any of the smallest meaningful constituents within a linguistic expression and particularly within a word. Many words are themselves standalone morphemes, while other words contain multiple morphemes; in linguistic terminology, this ...

exhibiting variation in its phonological realization. Each of the various realizations is called an alternant. The variation may be conditioned by the phonological, morphological, and/or

syntactic In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituency ...

environment in which the morpheme finds itself. Alternations provide linguists with data that allow them to determine the

allophone In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is one of multiple possible spoken soundsor '' phones''used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, the voiceless plos ...

s and

allomorph In linguistics, an allomorph is a variant phonetic form of a morpheme, or in other words, a unit of meaning that varies in sound and spelling without changing the meaning. The term ''allomorph'' describes the realization of phonological variatio ...

s of a language's phonemes and morphemes and to develop analyses determining the distribution of those allophones and allomorphs. The term "sound change" refers to diachronic changes, which occur in a language's sound system. On the other hand, "alternation" refers to changes that happen synchronically (within the language of an individual speaker, depending on the neighbouring sounds) and do not change the language's underlying system.

Phonologically conditioned alternation

An example of a phonologically conditioned alternation is the English

plural In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...

marker commonly spelled ''s'' or ''es''. This morpheme is pronounced , , or ,The vowel of the inflectional suffix - may belong to the phoneme of either or depending on dialect, and is a shorthand for "either or ". This usage of the symbol is borrowed from the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

''. depending on the nature of the preceding sound. # If the preceding sound is a sibilant consonant (one of ), or an

affricate An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pai ...

(one of ), the plural marker takes the form . Examples: #*''mass'' , plural ''masses'' #*''fez'' , plural ''fezzes'' #*''mesh'' , plural ''meshes'' #*''mirage'' , plural ''mirages'' #*''church'' , plural ''churches'' #*''bridge'' , plural ''bridges'' # Otherwise, if the preceding sound is

voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...

, the plural marker takes the likewise voiceless form . Examples: #*''mop'' , plural ''mops'' #*''mat'' , plural ''mats'' #*''pack'' , plural ''packs'' #*''cough'' , plural ''coughs'' #*''myth'' , plural ''myths'' # Otherwise, the preceding sound is voiced, and the plural marker takes the likewise voiced form . #*''dog'' , plural ''dogs'' #*''glove'' , plural ''gloves'' #*''ram'' , plural ''rams'' #*''doll'' , plural ''dolls'' #*''toe'' , plural ''toes''

Alternation related to meaning

Morphologically conditioned alternation

French has an example of morphologically conditioned alternation. The feminine form of many

adjective An adjective (abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives are considered one of the main part of speech, parts of ...

s ends in a

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...

sound that is missing in the masculine form. In spelling, the feminine ends in a

silent e In English orthography, many words feature a silent (single, final, non-syllabic ‘e’), most commonly at the end of a word or morpheme. Typically it represents a vowel sound that was formerly pronounced, but became silent letter, silent in ...

, while the masculine ends in a silent consonant letter: *masculine , feminine *masculine , feminine *masculine , feminine *masculine , feminine *masculine , feminine *masculine , feminine

Syntactically conditioned alternation

Syntactically conditioned alternations can be found in the

Insular Celtic languages Insular Celtic languages are the group of Celtic languages spoken in Brittany, Great Britain, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. All surviving Celtic languages are in the Insular group, including Breton, which is spoken on continental Europe in Br ...

, where words undergo various initial

consonant mutation Consonant mutation is change in a consonant in a word according to its morphological or syntactic environment. Mutation occurs in languages around the world. A prototypical example of consonant mutation is the initial consonant mutation of al ...

s depending on their syntactic position. For example, in Irish, an adjective undergoes

lenition In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language ...

after a feminine singular noun: *unmutated , mutated in In Welsh, a

noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...

undergoes soft mutation when it is the direct object of a

finite verb A finite verb is a verb that contextually complements a subject, which can be either explicit (like in the English indicative) or implicit (like in null subject languages or the English imperative). A finite transitive verb or a finite intra ...

: *unmutated "bike", mutated in

Notes

References