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THEORETICAL VIEWS OF EASTERN LINGUISTS ABOUT ALLOMORPHS
Saidoripova Dilorom Saidaxmad kizi
Teacher of Iranian-afganian philology
Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies
Uzbekistan
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9884-2764
Tel: +998990962929
Annotation:
This article explores the development and study of the concept of allomorph in
Eastern linguistics. It analyzes how Eastern linguists have defined, classified, and interpreted
allomorphs, focusing on phonetic, morphological, and semantic factors influencing their
appearance in Arabic, Persian, Turkic, and other Eastern languages. The research also compares
the Eastern perspectives on allomorphy with those of Western linguistics, identifying both
commonalities and differences. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of
morphological structures in Eastern languages and clarifies the theoretical foundations of
allomorphy from a diachronic and typological viewpoint.
Keywords:
allomorph, variants of a morpheme, apophony, alternation, root morpheme, auxiliary
morpheme.
In Eastern linguistics, comprehensive theories and perspectives concerning the notion of
allomorphs have been advanced. According to A. Nurmonov, “a morpheme is a socio-
psychological entity that, in immediate observation or speech, manifests itself through several
variants. The fact that a morpheme appears in multiple forms within the structure of speech
accounts for what we call allomorphs, or variants of that morpheme”
Uzbek scholar A. Khojiyev
regards allomorphs as variants of a morpheme, arguing that
auxiliary morphemes—which may be substituted for one another in any given construction—
constitute the variants of that morpheme. He substantiates this claim with examples from Uzbek,
showing the free alternation of the morphemes -day and -dek in expressions such as gulday ~
guldek (“like a flower”).
R. Rasulov concurs that allomorphs are morpheme-variants but rejects the idea that they are
freely interchangeable. He defines an allomorph as “a variant of a morpheme that occurs only
within the form of a specific lexeme. Each observable morph has a limited scope of applicability,
surfacing only in contexts that favor it”
He illustrates this with pairs such as tonggi ~ tongki
(“morning”), kechki ~ kechgi (“evening”), and attributes their distribution to phonetic
environment, phonological form, and semantic constraints.
Building on these views, M. Irisqulov
emphasizes that morphemes and morphs are not always in
one-to-one correspondence: a single morpheme may be realized by one or several morphs in
speech. He demonstrates this in Uzbek with the directional meaning expressed by the suffixes -
ga, -ka, and -qa. Irisqulov notes that when one morpheme is manifested through multiple morphs,
those morphs are termed its allomorphs. He further defines an allomorph as any morph that,
while differing in form, conveys the same meaning and constitutes a single morpheme. As an
illustration, he cites the Russian plural suffixes [и], [ы], [а], [я].
1
Nurmonov A. va b. O‘zbek tilining mazmuniy sintaksisi.T.Fan,1992
2
Hojiyev A. Tilshunoslik terminlarining izohli lug‘ati. T.: 2002. – B. 21.
3
Rasulov R. (2010) General Linguistics.
Umumiy tilshunoslik
. (Tahshkent)
4
Iriskulov M. (2009) Introduction to Linguistics.
Tilshunoslikka kirish.
(Tashkent)
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A. Abduzuhurov
explains the origin of allomorphs in Uzbek by situating them within affixal
morphology. Affixes, which never occur independently but only attach to a root morpheme to
express various lexical-grammatical meanings, undergo phonological adjustment depending on
the final sound of the stem. Thus, a single morpheme may surface in diverse
morphophonological shapes—its allomorphs. For example, the participial morpheme -gan
acquires the forms -kan, -qan, -gan after stems ending in different phonemes, as in yozgan
(“written”), ekkan (“planted”), suqqan (“hit”). Each allomorph differs from the others by exactly
one phoneme.
In Korean linguistics
, a similar conception holds that the various phonologically conditioned
variants of one morpheme are its allomorphs. From this vantage, certain morphemes expressing a
single meaning may have two or three variants, and these variants are distributed exclusively—
that is, they are complementary but together exhaust the set of possible realizations. For instance,
the nominative case marker
이
and the accusative
을
attach to stems ending in a consonant,
whereas their allomorphs
가
and
를
attach only to vowel-final stems. Korean morphemes thus
divide into
자립형태소
(independent morphemes) and
의존형태소
(dependent morphemes), or
leading and auxiliary morphemes, exemplified in:
철수가 밥을 아까 먹었다
Ch’ŏlsu-ga pap-ŭl akwa-mŏgŏt’ta. (“Cholsu just ate a meal.”)
Allomorphy also figures prominently in Japanese morphology. Phonological or morphological
context may yield different forms of the same morpheme. For instance, the causative suffix has
two allomorphs: -ase after consonant-final stems (C-stems), as in nom-ase (“make drink” from
nom- “drink”), and -sase after vowel-final stems (V-stems), as in tabe-sase (“make eat” from
tabe- “eat”). This choice is explained within Optimality Theory by the constraints ONSET
(“every syllable must begin with a consonant”) and NO-CODA (“syllables must not end in a
consonant”).
Moreover, when compound formation alters the phonological environment, a morpheme may
surface in yet another allomorphic shape. For example:
雨
(ame “rain”)
o
雨傘
(amekasa “rain umbrella”)
o
雨
傘
(amagasa
“rain
umbrella,”
alternate
pronunciation)
Here, the morpheme ame “rain” changes to ama before a consonant-initial element. Such
alternations in Japanese are studied as apophony or alternation phenomena
In Hindi, numerous affixal allomorphs appear when suffixes adapt to the phonological,
morphological, or syntactic context. For example, the adjectival/statative suffixes -ī and -īnā both
occur on words like sundarī vs. sundarīnā (“beautiful woman”). The choice depends on the final
sound of the base and on phonological factors such as stress; thus, -ī tends to follow vowel-final
stems, while -īnā often attaches to consonant-final ones
.
Among the Iranian languages, affixation plays a vital role in word formation alongside other
derivational processes, continuously expanding the lexicon. In his works on Persian grammar,
Iran Kalbasi
terms the minimal meaningful unit a vāž (“morph”), its written realization vāžak
(“morpheme”), and its variants gunehā-ye vāžak (“allomorphs”). He divides morphemes into
5
Abduzuhur Abduazizov. O‘zbek tili fonologiyasi va morfofonologiyasi. “Universitet” T. 2010. B-122.
6
Ким О., Львова И. и Елькин Д. Инновационные приемы, используемые на семинарских занятиях по
дисциплине «теоретическая морфология и синтаксис корейского языка». “O‘zbekistonda xorijiy tillar” ilmiy-
metodik elektron jurnal. № 2 (10) / 2016.
7
Ito, Junko & Mester, Armin. Japanese Morphophonemics: Markedness and Word Structure. MIT Press. 2004.
8
Paroma Sanyal, Vyom Sharma, Ankita Prasad. Hindi root allomorphy: Insights from phonological and
morphosyntactic theory. De Gruyter Mouton, 2021
9
Dr. Iran Kalbasi. (1992) Derivative construction of the word.
Sāxt-e ešteγāγi-ye vāže.
(Tegeran)
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volume 4, issue 4, 2025
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vāžak-e āzād (“free morphemes”), which can stand alone—e.g., kār “work,” mehr “love”—and
vāžak-e moqayyed (“bound morphemes”), which require a host—e.g., mand in kārmand
“employee,” bān in mehrbān “kind.”
L. Peysikov
provides a detailed typology of Persian allomorphs and defines them as alternants
of a lexical morpheme that share a core functional-semantic feature. He sets out the following
criteria for allomorphy:
1.
Sharing the same meaning and function;
2.
Occurring in comparable structures and able to substitute for one another;
3.
Each occurring only in its respective environment;
4.
Exhibiting a general similarity in form and relative phonetic resemblance.
On this basis, affixal allomorphs may be classified into two types:
1.
Mutually substitutable
: affixal variants that can replace one another in derivation
depending on stylistic or phonological considerations. For example, the Persian prefixes bar- and
var- in barandāz ~ varandāz (“observer”).
2.
Non-substitutable
: affixal variants that never interchange, often arising through
epenthetic processes when two vowels meet, yielding an inserted consonant and thus a distinct
allomorph.
Conclusion.
The study of allomorphy in Eastern linguistics rests on a broad theoretical
foundation forged through analyses of diverse languages and scholarly approaches. In Uzbek,
Nurmonov, Khojiyev, Rasulov, and Irisqulov offer differing yet complementary insights into
morpheme variation. Across Korean, Japanese, Hindi, and Persian, allomorphs are recognized as
contextually determined variants that manifest the interplay of phonology, morphology,
semantics, and syntax. Phonetic alternations, syllable structure, stress patterns, and stylistic
factors all contribute crucially to allomorphic choice, underscoring its significance as a window
into the integrated nature of language structure.
REFERENCES
1.
1.Abduzuhur Abduazizov. Uzbek language phonology and morphophonology.
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2.
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(Tehran)
3.
3.Hojiyev A. Tilshunoslik terminlaring izhohli lu‘ati. T.: 2002. – B. 21.
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