**Alternation of Supports**
**Definition**
Alternation of supports is a phonological phenomenon in which different allomorphs or variants of a morpheme appear depending on the phonological, morphological, or syntactic environment. This process often involves changes in the form of affixes or root morphemes to maintain phonotactic constraints or to signal grammatical distinctions.
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## Alternation of Supports
Alternation of supports is a linguistic concept primarily observed in morphology and phonology, referring to the systematic variation of morpheme forms—particularly affixes or supporting elements—across different linguistic contexts. These variations, or allomorphs, serve to facilitate pronunciation, maintain phonological harmony, or mark grammatical contrasts such as tense, number, or case. The term „support” in this context typically denotes the morphological elements that „support” the root or stem of a word, such as suffixes, prefixes, or infixes, which may alternate in form.
### Overview
In many languages, morphemes do not have a single invariant form but instead exhibit alternations conditioned by their phonological or grammatical environment. Alternation of supports is a subset of this broader phenomenon, focusing on the changes in affixal or supporting morphemes rather than the root itself. These alternations can be triggered by adjacent sounds, morphological categories, or syntactic constructions.
For example, in English, the plural morpheme „-s” alternates in pronunciation as [s], [z], or [ɪz] depending on the final sound of the noun it attaches to (e.g., „cats” [s], „dogs” [z], „horses” [ɪz]). While this example primarily illustrates phonological alternation, alternation of supports can also involve changes in the actual segmental makeup of affixes.
### Types of Alternation of Supports
Alternation of supports can be classified based on the nature of the alternation and the linguistic factors that condition it.
#### Phonological Alternation
Phonological alternation involves changes in the phonetic form of the support morpheme to conform to the phonotactic rules of the language or to ease articulation. This includes processes such as assimilation, vowel harmony, and insertion or deletion of sounds.
– **Assimilation:** The support morpheme changes to match a neighboring sound. For example, in Turkish vowel harmony, suffix vowels alternate to harmonize with the vowels in the root word.
– **Insertion (Epenthesis):** Sometimes, an additional sound is inserted in the support morpheme to prevent difficult consonant clusters.
– **Deletion (Elision):** Conversely, sounds may be omitted to simplify pronunciation.
#### Morphological Alternation
Morphological alternation occurs when the form of the support morpheme changes to signal different grammatical categories or to agree with the root morpheme.
– **Allomorphy:** Different allomorphs of a morpheme appear depending on morphological context. For example, in English, the past tense morpheme „-ed” can be pronounced as [t], [d], or [ɪd].
– **Suppletion:** In some cases, entirely different forms of a support morpheme are used in different contexts, though this is less common in supports and more typical of root alternations.
#### Syntactic Conditioning
In some languages, the form of support morphemes alternates depending on syntactic factors such as word order, emphasis, or clause type. This is less common but can be observed in languages with complex agreement systems.
### Functions of Alternation of Supports
The alternation of supports serves several linguistic functions:
– **Phonotactic Compliance:** Ensures that morpheme combinations conform to the permissible sound patterns of the language.
– **Morphosyntactic Signaling:** Marks grammatical distinctions such as tense, number, gender, case, or mood.
– **Ease of Articulation:** Facilitates smoother transitions between morphemes, reducing articulatory effort.
– **Lexical Differentiation:** Helps distinguish between homophonous forms or related lexical items.
### Examples from Various Languages
#### English
English exhibits alternation of supports primarily in its inflectional morphemes. The plural suffix „-s” and the past tense suffix „-ed” alternate in pronunciation based on phonological context, as previously mentioned. While these are phonological alternations, they illustrate how support morphemes adapt to their environment.
#### Turkish
Turkish is a classic example of vowel harmony affecting suffixes, a form of alternation of supports. Suffix vowels change to harmonize with the last vowel of the root word in terms of frontness and roundedness. For instance, the plural suffix can appear as „-ler” or „-lar” depending on the root vowel.
#### Russian
In Russian, case endings (supports) alternate depending on the stem’s phonological properties and morphological class. For example, the genitive plural ending can vary between „-ов,” „-ев,” or zero ending, conditioned by the stem’s final consonant and declension class.
#### Japanese
Japanese verb conjugation involves alternation of support morphemes to indicate tense, mood, and politeness. The support morphemes attached to verb stems change form depending on phonological and grammatical context.
### Theoretical Perspectives
Alternation of supports is analyzed within various linguistic frameworks, including generative phonology, morphology, and optimality theory. These frameworks seek to explain the underlying rules and constraints that govern the alternations.
– **Rule-Based Approaches:** Posit explicit phonological or morphological rules that apply in specific environments to produce alternations.
– **Constraint-Based Approaches:** Use ranked constraints to model the preferred forms in different contexts.
– **Morphophonemic Analysis:** Focuses on the interaction between morphological structure and phonological processes.
### Challenges in Analysis
Studying alternation of supports presents several challenges:
– **Identifying Morpheme Boundaries:** Determining where the root ends and the support begins can be complex, especially in languages with extensive affixation.
– **Distinguishing Phonological vs. Morphological Causes:** Some alternations may appear phonological but are morphologically conditioned, or vice versa.
– **Cross-Linguistic Variation:** The nature and extent of alternation vary widely among languages, complicating universal generalizations.
### Conclusion
Alternation of supports is a fundamental aspect of morphological and phonological systems in many languages. By allowing morphemes to vary systematically, languages maintain phonotactic harmony, mark grammatical distinctions, and facilitate fluent speech. Understanding these alternations provides insight into the dynamic interplay between sound and meaning in human language.
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**Meta Description:**
Alternation of supports is a linguistic phenomenon where morpheme variants change form based on phonological or grammatical context. This article explores its types, functions, and examples across languages.