English has three phonologically conditioned allomorphs of the plural morpheme as the following data show 1. buses, buzzes, churches, judges, dashes, rouges ........ 2. bats, cats, faiths, jokes, desk, locks ...... 3. bags, cans, spas, jugs, dads, bangs .....
To come up with a morphological rule that can ccount for the three allomorphs, we can do so in three different ways as shown below.
(1) The plural morpheme [əz] becomes [s], and [z] after the stem of which last sound is a voiceless sound except the sounds of [s, z, ʧ, ʤ, ʃ, ʒ], and after the stem of which last sound is a voiced sound, respectively.
(2) The plural morpheme [s] becomes [əz], and [z] after the stem of which last sound is one of the sounds [s, z, ʧ, ʤ, ʃ, ʒ], and after the stem of which last sound is a voiced sound, respectively.
(3) The plural morpheme [z] becomes [əz], and [s] after the stem of which last sound is one of the sounds [s, z, ʧ, ʤ, ʃ, ʒ], and after the stem of which last sound is a voiceless sound, respectively.
Q: Among the above three rules, which one is the most appropriate to capture the allomorphs of the Enlgish plural morpheme? Explain why your choice is the best within 100 words.
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