Prosodic Structure and Lexical Prefernces in Allomorph Selection

Abstract

It is well-known that allomorph selection is largely conditioned by phonolgocial structure of the base. The choice of one allomorph is determined by a specific phonological condition, while the other allomorphs occur with its complmentary conditions. This study explores the allomorph selction of English noun suffixication -ce and -cy from its base /-ənt/ ending adjectives (e.g., abundant to abundance, *abundancy, but diligent to diligency, *diligence). I propose that the favor of one allomorph to the other is attributed to the interaction of phonology and morphology by providing the anlaysis of stress-dependent suffixation of English allomorphy.