Definition and Examples of Alternation in Language

In linguistics, alternation is a variation in the form and/or sound of a word or word part. (Alternation is equivalent to allomorphy in morphology.) Also known as  alternance. A form involved in an alternation is called an alternant. The customary symbol for alternation is ~. American linguist Leonard Bloomfield defined an automatic alternation as one thats determined by the phonemes of the accompanying forms (A Set of Postulates for the Science of Language, 1926). An alternation that affects only some morphemes of a particular phonological form is called non-automatic or non-recurrent alternation. Before we get to examples of alternations, here are other terms that are often confused with alternation, but actually have different meanings: AllomorphFree VariationGradabilityInflection and Inflectional MorphologyPhoneticsPhonologyPronunciationSuppletion Spelling and Sounds Certain English nouns ending in the consonant /f/ form their plurals with /v/ instead: leaf but leaves, knife but knives. We say that such items exhibit an /f/-/v/ alternation. . .A somewhat different alternation is found in related words like electric (which ends in /k/) and electricity (which has /s/ instead of /k/ in the same position).More subtle is the three-way alternation occurring in the English plural marker. The noun cat has plural cats, pronounced with /s/, but dog has plural dogs, pronounced with /z/ (though again the spelling fails to show this), and fox has plural foxes, with /z/ preceded by an extra vowel. This alternation is regular and predictable; the choice among the three alternants (as they are called) is determined by the nature of the preceding sound.(R.L. Trask, Language and Linguistics: The Key Concepts, 2nd ed., ed. by Peter Stockwell. Routledge, 2007) From Phonology to Morphology [T]ypically, an allomorphic alternation makes the most sense phonologically if one looks at an earlier stage of the language. Here are [five] striking examples: foot feetgoose geesetooth teethman menmouse mice In this list of words, the different vowels in the plural arose in Prehistoric English. At that time, the plurals had an /i/ ending. English also had a phonological rule (known by the German word umlaut) whereby vowels preceding an /i/ became closer to the /i/ in pronunciation. At a later date, the ending was lost. In terms of the phonology of Modern English, the current allomorphy is doubly senseless. First, there is no overt ending to explain the alternation in the stem. Second, even if there were, English has lost the umlaut rule. For example, we feel no pressure at all to turn Ann into xEnny when we add the suffix -y/i/.Thus one big source of English allomorphy is the phonology of English. When English loses the phonological rule, or when conditions in the word change so that the rule no longer applies, the alternation often remains in place, and from then on it is a rule of the morphology.(Keith Denning, Brett Kessler, and William R. Leben, English Vocabulary Elements, 2nd ed. O xford University Press, 2007) Alternation and Voice The grammatical category of voice affords speakers some flexibility in viewing thematic roles. Many languages allow an opposition between active voice and passive voice. We can compare for example the English sentences in 6.90 below: 6.90a. Billy groomed the horses.6.90b. The horses were groomed by Billy. In the active sentence 6.90a Billy, the agent, is the  subject and the horses, the patient, is the object. The passive version 6.90b, however, has the patient as the subject and the agent occurring in a prepositional phrase ... This is a typical active-passive voice alternation: the passive sentence has a verb in a different form — the past participle with the auxiliary verb be--and it allows the speaker a different perspective on the situation described.(John I. Saeed, Semantics, 3rd ed. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009) Alternation and Predicative Constructions According to Langacker (1987: 218), predicative adjectives have a relational profile: they convey a quality, which functions as the landmark (lm) in the reduction, that is associated with the entity denoted by the subject of the utterance, which is the trajector (tr). Consequently, only elements with a relational profile can be used as predicates. Applied to the discussion of grounding elements, this entails that alternation with a predicative construction is only available for elements that express deictic meanings but profile the grounding relation, e.g. a known criminal - a criminal that is known, and not for grounding predications, which have a nominal profile. As shown in (5.28), comparative determiner units do not allow alternation with the predicative construction, which suggests them to have a nominal rather than a relational profile: (5.28)the same man ⇒ *a man that is the sameanother man ⇒ *a man that is anotherthe other man ⇒ *a man that is the other (Tine Breban, English Adjectives of Comparison: Lexical and Grammaticalized Uses. Walter de Gruyter, 2010)

The Ethical Dilemmas Of The Pediatric Field Of Nursing

Nurses working in the pediatric field of nursing are faced with a wide variety of ethical dilemmas. There are many ethical dilemmas that can arise in the work field. Many individuals are having a tough time deciding to vaccinate their children; this in turn can leave society with a huge dilemma ethically. I am choosing to write about not vaccinating your child and why I feel this can be an ethical dilemma. Society today is faced with so many preventable illnesses that can simply be resolved by vaccinations. There are a number of individuals that chose not to vaccinate their children for a variety of reasons. We all want the best for our children and I understand their concern, however by choosing to opt out on routine vaccinations from birth to twelve years of age is not the safest option to take. The American Nurses Association (ANA) has developed principles for nurses to follow to provide a safe environment for all patients. 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Informative Synthesis Environmentalism Free Essays

Creating a Sustainable Environment Every day our environment is ravaged by emissions, littered on by billions of people, and carelessly treated with unlimited sources. Environmentalists like Bill Mckibben, scholar at Middle berry College and author of the article â€Å"The Challenge to Environmentalism,† believe that â€Å"the relationship between people and the natural world has been largely taken for granted for most of human history† (500). Although environmentalism to some people mean driving less, establishing solar panels, recycling and more; Kate Zernike, reporter for the New York Times and author of â€Å"Green, Greener, Greenest,† informs us about college campus’s taking shortcuts in claiming they’re â€Å"environmentally friendly. We will write a custom essay sample on Informative Synthesis: Environmentalism or any similar topic only for you Order Now † There are environmentalists and deans attempting to make a difference in our environment, but Michael Pollan – a professor of science and environmental journalism at the University of California – asks the question, why bother with trying to cure climate change? Our Environment is an important aspect of human lives, and should be taken care of like our own children. Our concepts of environmentalism, the way we conduct ourselves in everyday life, and our battle with climate change and environmentalism economically are all factors of a hazardous home we will soon live in. Environmentalism is considered â€Å"a hollow concept,† argues Zernike, through the purchasing of offsets she believes it’s â€Å"the environmental equivalent of paying someone to eat broccoli so you can keep eating ice cream† (505). Offsets are credits sold by companies, specifically green companies to invest in planting trees or renewable energy. What Zernike means by this is it’s not ethically permissible to give someone money to help the environment while you personally continue to pollute it, especially when that money given to the company doesn’t always go towards funding the struggle for carbon neutrality. Pollan agrees with Zernike’s argument, the infinite cycle of repairing what we’re damaging, keeping us at a standstill for carbon neutrality and climate change for years to come. Pollan knows that â€Å"halfway around the world their lives my evil twin . . . who’s itching to replace every last pound of CO2 I’m trying not to emit† (509). Although Pollan doesn’t argue about offsets, he provides an example of double effect environmentally; that if walking to work increases your appetite and causes you to consume more meat or milk as a result, walking might actually emit more carbon than driving Mckibben on the other hand looks at the more general picture of environmentalism, how humans have had effected the environment we currently live within and around. Mckibben doesn’t disagree with Zernike and Pollan on environmentalism, he believes the relations we have with nature have been taken for granted. Mckibben doesn’t even call environmentalism in that name itself, instead personally renaming as the Global Warming Movement. Mckibben argues that people believe wildness is less important than community. Environmentalists today prioritize building windmills over protecting our wildlife from their blades. These small choices we make will be the difference in how our world will be perceived in the future. After taking into consideration of the billions of people on our planet, we come to realize how large of an impact the way we live has on our world. Our daily life too many environmentalists are considered a virus to earth as a whole. Mckibben argues that â€Å"we had a great effect on particular places around us [such as] our fields and forests† (500). Cutting down forests changes hydrological cycles, environmental patterns, and habitat patterns. Although deforestation is a priority to prevent, Zernike is focusing on changing the concepts of our lives to improve our environment. After claiming that going green is good for a college campus’s public image, Zernike tells us about the efforts students make in revolutionizing the way students learn, consume, and sleep. Although changes such as installing windmills, evolving trash bins to composts, and using biodegradable eating utensils are significant efforts to change the way we live, Michael Pollan argues that this all doesn’t matter. Pollan continues to assess his argument that attempting to cure climate change is irrational, he tells us that â€Å"the ‘big problem’ is nothing more or less than the sum total of countless everyday choices, most made by us, most made by desires, needs, and preferences† (510). Everyone making these innumerable amount of choices against our environment suddenly expects laws and money to take action to fix it, Pollan argues that â€Å"it is no less accurate to say that laws and money cannot do enough, it will also take profound changes in the way we live,† changes that cannot be made by legislation or technology (510). Our economy cannot support replacing our carbon footprint. Pollan argues that we look to our leaders and money to save us from the situation we’ve gotten ourselves into. Cheap energy, which Pollan argues made specialization possible, gave us climate change, The mentality of specialization is causing people to believe and wait for a new technology to emerge and solve our problem of climate change. Kate Zernike explains to us college campuses have begun hiring specialized sustainability coordinators to increase their green rating and environmental efficiency. Although sustainability coordinators have a â€Å"timetable for becoming carbon neutral . . . 12. 5 million was spent to make the buildings within the campus more efficient† (506). Bill Mckibben believes that â€Å"the economy can’t do the job anymore, in part because the excessive consumption is precisely what drives the environmental crisis we find ourselves in† (502). Mckibben also argues that the farmers market is the fastest growing part of the food economy in America, because it provides more economically sensible and healthy food. Whether environmentalists like Bill Mckibben think the concepts of the environmental movement should be changed to the global warming movement, revolutionizing our concepts of living and daily life by going green and making our buildings more efficient like Kate Zernike, and explaining to us how all these attempts to save the world from global warming doesn’t matter like Michael Pollan. In order to combat our problem with climate change we need the cooperation of the billions of people that inhabit our world. Works Cited Mckibben, Bill. â€Å"The Challenge to Environmentalism. †Ã‚  The Blair Reader: Exploring Issues and Ideas. 7th ed. New York City: Pearson Education, 2011. 500-02. Print. Pollan, Micheal. â€Å"Why Bother? †Ã‚  The Blair Reader: Exploring Issues and Ideas. 7th ed. New York City: Pearson Education, 2011. 508-14. Print. Zernike, Kate. â€Å"Green, Greener, Greenest. †Ã‚  The Blair Reader: Exploring Issues and Ideas. 7th ed. New York City: Pearson Education, 2011. 503-07. 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