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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Phonetics and Phonology

Allophone

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

/ˈæləfəʊn/nounCommon term

In linguistics & grammar, allophone means: One of the different ways a single phoneme is pronounced in different positions, which native speakers usually hear as the same sound, like the /p/ in pin and in spin.

In Turkish: sesbirimcik, alofon

How it is used

Written in square brackets: the [pʰ] in pin is aspirated, the [p] in spin is not. Allophones do not change meaning in that language, but using the wrong one can make a speaker sound foreign.

Example sentences

  1. In English, the light [l] in 'leaf' and the dark [ɫ] in 'feel' are allophones of one phoneme.

  2. Two sounds can be allophones in one language and separate phonemes in another.

Common collocations

  • allophone of a phoneme
  • allophonic variation
  • complementary distribution
  • aspirated allophone
  • phonemeThe smallest unit of sound that can change meaning in a particular language, such as /p/ and /b/, which make pin and bin different words in English.
  • minimal pairTwo words that differ in only one sound in the same position, such as ship and sheep or fan and van, which shows that the two sounds are separate phonemes.
  • phonologyThe study of how a particular language organizes its sounds into a system: which sound differences change meaning, how sounds combine and how they affect each other.
  • phoneticsThe branch of linguistics that studies speech sounds as physical events: how the mouth and throat produce them, how they travel and how the ear perceives them.

More terms: Phonetics and Phonology

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