Morphology

A morph is the phonetic realization of a morpheme.
Here are some kinds of morphs:

• An allomorph is one of two or more complementary morphs which manifest a morpheme in its different phonological or morphological environments.The allomorphs of a morpheme are derived from phonological rules and any morphophonemic rules that may apply to that morpheme.

Examples (English)
The plural morpheme in English, usually written as '-s', has at least three allomorphs:

1. [-s] as in [hQts] 'hats'
2. [-z] as in [d&u0254;gz] 'dogs'
3. [«z] as in [bŒks«z] 'boxes'

• A portmanteau morph is a single morph that is analyzed as representing two underlying morphemes.

Example (French):
au ‘to (him)’ from a ‘to’ + le ‘masc. art’
du ‘of (him)’ from de ‘of’ + le ‘masc. art’
Example (Burmese):
ne? ‘your’ from ne) ‘you’ + ?"@? poss.mkr.
Tu? ‘his’ from Tu$ ‘he’ + ?"@? poss.mkr.

• A zero morph is a morph, consisting of no phonetic form, that is proposed in some analyses as an allomorph of a morpheme that is ordinarily realized by a morph having some phonetic form.

  Example (English):
  	The plural form that is realized in two sheep is Ø, in contrast with the plural -s in two goa

Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words.
Morphology can be thought of as a system of adjustments in the shapes of words that contribute to adjustments in the way speakers intend their utterances to be interpreted.