Everything about Underlying Representation totally explained
In
morphophonology, the
underlying representation (UR) or
underlying form (UF) of a
morpheme is the abstract form the morpheme is postulated to have before any
phonological rules have applied to it. The underlying representation of a morpheme is considered to be invariable across related forms (except in cases of
suppletion), despite
alternations among various
allophones on the surface.
In many cases, the underlying form is simply the
phonemic form. For example, in many varieties of
American English the phoneme /t/ in a word like
wet can surface either as a
glottalized [tˀ] or as a
flap [ɾ], depending on environment: [ˈwɛtˀ]
wet vs. [ˈwɛɾɚ]
wetter. In both cases, however, the underlying representation of the morpheme
wet is the same: its phonemic form /wɛt/.
In other cases, phonological rules may change the phonemes involved. In such cases, pipes ("|") or double slashes may be used in transcription to distinguish the underlying form from its phonemic realization. An example is the word
cats, which has the phonemic representation /ˈkæts/. If we take the underlying form of the English plural suffix to a '
z' sound, as many phonologists do, then the underlying form would be //ˈkætz//. This discrepancy can't be avoided by choosing a different underlying form of the plural: If we assume it's an '
s' sound, as it's spelled, then the word
dogs, phonemically /ˈdɒɡz/, would have the underlying form //ˈdɒɡs//. As this example illustrates, the underlying form of a morpheme is a theoretical construct, and depends on the analysis that's used.
Sandhi, such as the
tone sandhi of the
Chinese languages, is another phonological process that changes the phonemes of a morpheme from its underlying form.
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