Language Structure Problems

English Past Tense

We say that the past tense in English is formed on regular verbs by adding -ed. That is the orthographic answer. But, how is it pronounced?

Here are some transcribed English data. How many pronunciations of the past tense morpheme do you find? that is, how many allomorphs of the past tense morpheme are in the data below? And how do you know when to use which? That is, what conditions the appearance of these different allomorphs?

1. [klIkt] clicked
2. [bVgd] bugged
3. [skImd] skimmed
4. [mIst] missed
5. [l{ft] laughed
6. [hejtId] hated
7. [bejDd] bathed
8. [SejdId] shaded
9. [pItSt] pitched
10. [b{Nd] banged
11. [uzd] oozed
12. [plejd] played


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