In some models of

phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

as well as

morphophonology Morphophonology (also morphophonemics or morphonology) is the branch of linguistics that studies the interaction between morphological and phonological or phonetic processes. Its chief focus is the sound changes that take place in morphemes ...

in the field of

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...

, the underlying representation (UR) or underlying form (UF) of a

word A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no conse ...

morpheme A morpheme is the smallest meaningful Constituent (linguistics), constituent of a linguistic expression. The field of linguistics, linguistic study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology (linguistics), morphology. In English, morphemes are ...

is the abstract form that a word or

is postulated to have before any phonological rules have applied to it. By contrast, a surface representation is the

phonetic representation Phonetic transcription (also known as phonetic script or phonetic notation) is the visual representation of speech sounds (or '' phones'') by means of symbols. The most common type of phonetic transcription uses a phonetic alphabet, such as the ...

of the word or sound. The concept of an underlying representation is central to

generative grammar Generative grammar, or generativism , is a linguistic theory that regards linguistics as the study of a hypothesised innate grammatical structure. It is a biological or biologistic modification of earlier structuralist theories of linguisti ...

. If more phonological rules apply to the same underlying form, they can apply wholly independently of each other or in a feeding or

counterbleeding order Bleeding order is a term used in phonology to describe specific interactions of phonological rules. The term was introduced in 1968 by Paul Kiparsky. If two phonological rules are said to be in bleeding order, the application of the first rule cre ...

. The underlying representation of a morpheme is considered to be invariable across related forms (except in cases of

suppletion In linguistics and etymology, suppletion is traditionally understood as the use of one word as the inflected form of another word when the two words are not cognate. For those learning a language, suppletive forms will be seen as "irregular" or even ...

), despite alternations among various

allophone In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is a set of multiple possible spoken soundsor ''phones''or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, (as in '' ...

s on the surface.

Examples

In many cases, the underlying form is simply the

phonemic In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west ...

form. For example, in many varieties of

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...

, the phoneme in a word like ''wet'' can surface either as an

unreleased stop A stop with no audible release, also known as an unreleased stop or an applosive, is a stop consonant with no release burst: no audible indication of the end of its occlusion (hold). In the International Phonetic Alphabet, lack of an audible rele ...

or as a

flap Flap may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Flap'' (film), a 1970 American film * Flap, a boss character in the arcade game ''Gaiapolis'' * Flap, a minor character in the film '' Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland'' Biology and he ...

, depending on environment: ''wet'' vs. ''wetter''. (In both cases, however, the underlying representation of the morpheme ''wet'' is the same: its phonemic form .) 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. For example, the word "cats" has the phonemic representation . If it is assumed that the underlying form of the English plural suffix is a sound, the underlying form of "cats" would be . (The surfaces as an because of the phonological process of devoicing after an unvoiced consonant.)

Sandhi Sandhi ( sa, सन्धि ' , "joining") is a cover term for a wide variety of sound changes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries. Examples include fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of one sound depending on near ...

, such as

tone sandhi Tone sandhi is a phonological change occurring in tonal languages, in which the tones assigned to individual words or morphemes change based on the pronunciation of adjacent words or morphemes. It usually simplifies a bidirectional tone into a ...

in Chinese, is another phonological process that changes the phonemes of a morpheme from its underlying form.

References

Phonology {{Phonology-stub

Examples

See also

References