phonemes and allophones

Question 1

phoneme

Answer 1

= changing one sound of a word can lead to a new meaning
→ phonemes are the smallest meaning-changing units in a language
→ separate phonemes are overlapping or in parallel distribution

Question 2

minimal pairs

Answer 2

= two words that have different meanings and differ only in one segment (consonant or vowel) phonetically
● shows that the relevant phonetic difference is contrastive in this language
● the contrast may be restricted to a single position in a word;
→ /n/ and /ŋ/ contrast in final, but not in initial, position because /ŋ/ never occurs initially
→ /h/ never occurs finally and thus never contrasts with other phonemes in that position

Question 3

allophones

Answer 3

= set of sounds display phonetic differences that are irrelevant for distinguishing between one word (meaning) and another
→ allophones are not meaning-changing

Question 4

complementary distribution

Answer 4

= two allophones of the same phoneme never appear in the same environments
● the two sounds are phonologically equivalent for English speakers
● → /n/ in (Br. and Am.) English is always alveolar except that it is dental before a dental consonant (tenth)
● → /t/ is articulated with unrounded lips if followed by unrounded vowels and with rounded lips if followed by a rounded vowel