Glossary of Linguistic Terms

Suppletion

Definition: 

Suppletion is the replacement of one stem with another, resulting in an allomorph of a morpheme which has no phonological similarity to the other allomorphs.

Examples: 

The following table illustrates stem suppletion:

Morphological process

Regular, nonsuppletive stem

Suppletive stem

Addition of past tense suffix

walk—walked

go—went

Addition of comparative or superlative suffix

big—bigger— biggest

good—better—best
  • The following table illustrates affix suppletion:

Morphological process

Regular, nonsuppletive affix

Suppletive affix

Addition of plural suffix

cat—cats

cherub—cherubim ox —oxen

 

Kinds
 

Here are some kinds of suppletion:
 
  • Stem suppletion
  • Affix suppletion

 

See Also: 
Allomorph
Morpheme

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library. Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003.

LinguaLinks Ordering Information

Glossary Hierarchy

  • Morphological Process
  • Modification
  • Suppletion