Editing Allomorph (section)

==Stem allomorphy==
Allomorphy can also exist in stems or [[Root (linguistics)|roots]], as in [[Classical Sanskrit]]:<ref name=":02" />

{| class="wikitable"
|+'''Vāk''' (voice)
|-
!
!'''Singular'''
!'''Plural'''
|-
! [[Nominative]]
|{{IPA|/vaːk/}}
|{{IPA|/vaːt͡ʃ-as/}}
|-
! [[Genitive case|Genitive]]
|{{IPA|/vaːt͡ʃ-as/}}
|{{IPA|/vaːt͡ʃ-aːm/}}
|-
! [[Instrumental case|Instrumental]]
|{{IPA|/vaːt͡ʃ-aː/}}
|{{IPA|/vaːɡ-bʱis/}}
|-
! [[Locative case|Locative]]
|{{IPA|/vaːt͡ʃ-i/}}
|{{IPA|/vaːk-ʂi/}}
|}

There are three allomorphs of the stem, {{IPA|/vaːk/}}, {{IPA|/vaːt͡ʃ/}}, and {{IPA|/vaːɡ/}}, which are conditioned by the particular case-marking suffixes.

The form of the stem {{IPA|/vaːk/}}, found in the nominative singular and locative plural, is the etymological form of the morpheme. Pre-Indic palatalization of [[velars]] resulted in the variant form {{IPA|/vaːt͡ʃ/}}, which was initially phonologically conditioned. The conditioning can still be seen in the locative singular form, for which the {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}} is followed by the high front vowel {{IPA|/i/}}.

However, the subsequent merging of {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/o/}} into {{IPA|/a/}} made the alternation unpredictable on phonetic grounds in the genitive case (both singular and plural) as well as the nominative plural and the instrumental singular. Thus, allomorphy was no longer directly relatable to phonological processes.

Phonological conditioning also accounts for the {{IPA|/vaːɡ/}} form in the instrumental plural, in which the {{IPA|/ɡ/}} assimilates in voicing to the following {{IPA|/bʱ/}}.<ref name=":02" />