Phonemes and Allophones

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Phonemes are the basic of sound units which are formed meaningfully rather than spoken or heard. Phonemes are written between / / brackets. Allophones are difference ways of pronunciation one phoneme depending on its context or different phonetic environments which are predictable, and non-contrastive. Allophones are written between [ ] brackets. For example, in English, aspirated [th] , unaspirated [t], unreleased (t˺( and flap (ɾ(are allophones of the same phoneme, which is /t/. 1) Free variation is associated with allophones. Free variation is two sounds appear in exactly the same environment, but no difference in meaning. In addition, in some phonetic contexts, may be pronounced in more than one way. For example, when producing /p/ in a word-final position, speaker may pronounce it as an unaspirated [p]; or may pronounce it with the lips closed as unreleased (p˺( Example: [lip] or [lip˺] leap 2) Predictable is associated with allophones. Predictable is related to the complementary distribution which always occurs in the same position which users can predict the position. For example; the conclusion of English phoneme /t/. 1. (tʰ( occur in word- initially position , ex. tone 2. (t( occur after /s/ and in word-final position, ex. stone 3. (t˺( occur in word-final position, ex. secret 4. (ɾ( occur between a stressed vowel and unstressed vowel, ex. sitter 3) Complementary distribution is associated with allophones. Complementary distribution is a single phoneme which appears in different environments, but gives different allophone. Example: top [tʰɔp] stop [stɔp] 4) Contrastive distribution is associated with phonemes. Contrastive distribution is replacing with different phonemes in similar environment of a word, results in a change of word’s meaning or different word.

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