alternuese

Alternuese is a hypothetical model language used in linguistic theory to illustrate and analyze morphophonemic alternation and allomorphy. It is not attested as a natural language and has no native speakers; it exists as a pedagogical and theoretical construct employed in textbooks and academic papers to demonstrate how phonology and morphology interact to produce alternative surface forms.

Phonology and orthography: Alternuese uses a small set of consonants and vowels with a simple syllable structure, typically CV or CVC. Tone is not essential to the model. The system emphasizes predictable phonological contexts that condition allomorph choice rather than lexical irregularity.

Morphology: The defining feature is deliberated morphophonemic alternation. Each affix has two or more allomorphs whose selection is governed by a surrounding environment, such as the identity of neighboring vowels or consonants, or the preceding stress. The same root can surface with different suffix shapes depending on these cues.

Syntax and lexicon: A minimal, fixed word order is often assumed (for example, subject–verb–object) to keep the focus on morphology. The lexicon remains small to illustrate patterns rather than to encode a complete vocabulary.

Illustrative example: A tiny lexicon contains two roots, R1 and R2, and two suffixes, S1 and S2. In environment E1, the surface forms are R1S1 and R2S1; in environment E2, the forms are R1S2 and R2S2. This setup shows how contexts condition different realizations of the same underlying morphemes.

Origins and use: The term appears in linguistic literature as a teaching and research aid for discussing allomorphy, stem alternation, and morphophonemic processes. It is not a standard reference in cross-linguistic typology but serves as an clarifying idealized example.

See also: Allomorphy, Morphophonology, Constructed language, Phonology.