Although regular English inflection is very simple, several of the most commonly found suffixes have a phonological form that depends on the phonology of the stem to which they are attached. In the case of the -ed suffix, it appears as /Id/ if the final segment of the stem is an alveolar consonant, otherwise it appears as /d/ if the final segment is voiced and a /t/ if it isn't. We thus need to formulate a realization rule for this suffix that is sensitive to the phonological context:
Suffix_ED:
<> == Affix
<phn root form> == IF:<ALVEOLAR:<FINAL_SEG:<Root>>
THEN I d
ELSE IF:<VOICED:<FINAL_SEG:<Root>>
THEN d
ELSE t >>.
Exercise 6034
The realization of Suffix_S, as invoked in the English inflection example in the previous section, varies according to whether the final segment of the stem is voiced, voiceless, or a sibilant. Using the form of Suffix_ED as a model, give a definition for Suffix_S.
Exercise 6035
Suffix_ED is formulated in terms of segment strings rather than syllable structures. How would you set about redefining it?
