Phonemes

Phoneme is the smallest

meaningful unit of sound in a
language. A meaningful sound is one
that will change one word into
another word.
Example : the words cat and fat are
two different words, but there is only
one sound that is different between
the two words

Allophone
Allophone one of a set of multiple
possible spoken sounds (orphones)
used to pronounce a
singlephoneme.
Example allophones of /t/:
The aspirated one [th] in top
The unaspirated one [t] in stop
The unreleased one [t] in coat

Minimal Pairs
Minimal Pairs are words that vary by only
a single sound, usually meaning sounds
that students often get confused by, like
the th and t in thin and tin.
Example :
Vowel sounds: /I/ and /i:/ (sit and seat)
Consonant Sounds: /b/ and /v/ (berry and
very)
Initial Consonant Sound: /f/ and /p/ (fast and
past)
Final Consonant Sound: /k/ and /g/ (back and

Distinctive
Features
Distinctive featureis the most basic unit
ofphonological structure that may be
analyzed in phonological theory.

Uses for Distinctive Features:

To specify a phoneme
To specify a class of phonemes
To describe the set of speech sounds used in a
particular language or dialect
To write concise rules of phonetic change
To characterize a speech disorder

Suprasegment
al Phonemes
In addition to finding the consonant
and vowel segments (the segmental
phoneme), the linguist must also
identify the Suprasegmental
Phonemes used in a language
system. They include things like
pitch, stress, intonation, and
juncture.

1. Pitch

Differences of meaning at the word level

In the tone language like Thai and
Chinese, In Chinese, for example, there
are four tones which can distinguish words.
If you say /tu/ with a high level pitch it
means pig but if you say /tu/ with falling
and rising pitch it means lord.

2. Stress

The degree of loudness given to same

syllables in relation to others.
Transcription
/insens/
incense
/pmit/
/inslt/
/ridekt/

Noun
incense

Verb

ppermit
insult
reject

permpit
insult
reject

3. Intonation

Intonation consists of pitch contours

peaking on the stressed syllable of the last
content word in each phrase. Example

4. Juncture

The type of connection or pause we get

between syllables or words.
Example :
1. an aim / n + eim /
1. a name / + neim /
2. thats though / ts + t f/
2. that stuff / t + st f/