"null allomorph"的定义和意义

What is a "null allomorph"?

A null allomorph is a variant of a morpheme that has no phonetic representation, meaning it does not produce a sound but still carries a specific grammatical function or meaning. This occurs in contexts where a morpheme is expected but is not pronounced. For example, in English, the plural morpheme can be a null allomorph in the case of the word "sheep," where no additional sound is added to indicate the plural form. The absence of a sound still signifies that there is more than one sheep. Null allomorphs are significant in linguistics because they illustrate how language can convey meaning and grammatical relationships even in the absence of sound, contributing to the understanding of morphology and the flexibility of language structure.