Presentation description

Japanese follows a strict pattern wherein the final sound in a word changes to match the first sound in a suffix. With certain suffixes, this pattern is not followed. A word like kak 'write' is expected to become katta when the suffix ta is added, but instead becomes kaita. I looked at processes of allomorphy and fusion to explain this irregularity. Allomorphy lets the suffix have multiple versions, /ta/ and /ita/, and fusion lets aspects of sounds be preserved when they would otherwise be lost.