"In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of phone that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language."
The distinctive attributes of phonemes that distinguish them from one another.
Articulatory Phonetics: This topic deals with the physical mechanisms involved in human speech production. It includes the study of the anatomy and physiology of the vocal tract, as well as the articulation of different sounds.
Acoustic Phonetics: This topic deals with the properties of sound waves that are produced during speech. It includes the study of frequency, amplitude, and duration of different sounds, and the ways they are perceived by the human ear.
Phoneme: Phonemes are the smallest units of sound that can differentiate meaning in a language. They are often represented by different symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
Allophone: Allophones are different variants of a phoneme that are produced in different contexts. For example, the 'p' in 'pot' and the 'p' in 'spin' are allophones of the same phoneme.
Phonotactics: Phonotactics refer to the permissible combinations of sounds in a language. It includes rules for syllable structure, onset and coda clusters, and stress patterns.
Phonological processes: Phonological processes refer to the natural patterns of sound changes that occur within a language over time. Some common phonological processes include assimilation, dissimilation, and deletion.
Features: Features are distinct properties of sounds that are used to define and distinguish them from one another. Some common features include voicing, nasality, and place of articulation.
Natural Classes: Natural classes refer to groups of sounds that share common features. For example, all voiced stops (such as 'b' and 'd') form a natural class because they share the feature of voicing.
Minimal Pairs: Minimal pairs are pairs of words that differ by only one phoneme, and which have different meanings. For example, 'bit' and 'pit' are minimal pairs because they differ by only one sound.
Phonological Rules: Phonological rules are the formal statements that describe the systematic relationships between sounds in a language. These rules govern how sounds change in different phonological contexts.
Consonants: Sounds produced with a constriction or closure in the vocal tract.
Vowels: Sounds produced with an open vocal tract.
Nasals: Sounds produced with the soft palate lowered, allowing air to resonate in the nasal cavity.
Plosives: Sounds produced by a sudden release of air after a complete closure in the vocal tract.
Fricatives: Sounds produced by a narrow opening in the vocal tract creating turbulent air flow and frication noise.
Affricates: A combination of plosives and fricatives in a single sound.
Approximants: Sounds produced with some closure in the vocal tract, but not enough to create friction or plosion.
Retroflex: Sounds produced with the tongue curled back towards the roof of the mouth.
Palatal: Sounds produced with the tongue touching the hard palate.
Velar: Sounds produced with the tongue touching the soft palate (velum).
Labial: Sounds produced with the lips.
Dental: Sounds produced with the tongue touching the teeth.
Alveolar: Sounds produced with the tongue touching the alveolar ridge behind the front teeth.
Glottal: Sounds produced with the vibration of the vocal cords in the glottis.
Voiceless: Sounds produced without vibration of the vocal cords.
Voiced: Sounds produced with vibration of the vocal cords.
Obstruents: Sounds produced with a high degree of obstruction in the vocal tract.
Sonorants: Sounds produced with little to no obstruction in the vocal tract.
Low vowels: Vowels produced with the tongue in a low position.
Mid vowels: Vowels produced with the tongue in a mid-level position.
High vowels: Vowels produced with the tongue in a high position.
Tense vowels: Vowels produced with increased muscular effort and longer duration.
Lax vowels: Vowels produced with less muscular effort and shorter duration.
Back vowels: Vowels produced with the tongue in a retracted position.
Front vowels: Vowels produced with the tongue in a advanced position.
Rounded vowels: Vowels produced with protruding lips.
Unrounded vowels: Vowels produced without protruding lips.
"For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west of England, the sound patterns (sin) and (sing) are two separate words that are distinguished by the substitution of one phoneme, /n/, for another phoneme, /ŋ/."
"Two words like this that differ in meaning through the contrast of a single phoneme form a minimal pair."
"Phonemes that are established by the use of minimal pairs, such as tap vs tab or pat vs bat, are written between slashes: /p/, /b/."
"To show pronunciation, linguists use square brackets: [pʰ] (indicating an aspirated p in pat)."
"A phoneme is generally regarded as an abstraction of a set (or equivalence class) of speech sounds (phones) that are perceived as equivalent to each other in a given language."
"Speech sounds that differ but do not create a meaningful change in the word are known as allophones of the same phoneme."
"Allophonic variation may be conditioned, in which case a certain phoneme is realized as a certain allophone in particular phonological environments, or it may otherwise be free, and may vary by speaker or by dialect."
"Therefore, phonemes are often considered to constitute an abstract underlying representation for segments of words."
"Speech sounds make up the corresponding phonetic realization, or the surface form."
"For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west of England, the sound patterns (sin) and (sing) are two separate words that are distinguished by the substitution of one phoneme, /n/, for another phoneme, /ŋ/."
"However, a phoneme is generally regarded as an abstraction of a set (or equivalence class) of speech sounds (phones) that are perceived as equivalent to each other in a given language."
"Two words like this that differ in meaning through the contrast of a single phoneme form a minimal pair."
"Phonemes that are established by the use of minimal pairs, such as tap vs tab or pat vs bat, are written between slashes: /p/, /b/."
"To show pronunciation, linguists use square brackets: [pʰ] (indicating an aspirated p in pat)."
"Speech sounds that differ but do not create a meaningful change in the word are known as allophones of the same phoneme."
"Allophonic variation may be conditioned, in which case a certain phoneme is realized as a certain allophone in particular phonological environments."
"Allophonic variation may otherwise be free, and may vary by speaker or by dialect."
"Therefore, phonemes are often considered to constitute an abstract underlying representation for segments of words."
"Speech sounds make up the corresponding phonetic realization, or the surface form."