Phonemes

&
Allophones
 Phonemes /'f±Uni:mz/
The smallest segment of sound that can
distinguish two words.
Pairs of words such as ‘pit’- ‘bit’, ‘ship’-
‘sheep’ which differ by only one
phoneme are known as minimal pairs
and one way to identify phonemes of
any language is to look for minimal
pairs.
Phonemes are abstract units that form
the basis for writing down a language
systematically and unambiguously.
 Phonemes /'f±Uni:mz/
The number of phonemes in a
certain language is limited
There are 44 phonemes in English
(24 consonants and 20 vowels)
The difference between phonemes
is the functional difference, which
can change the meaning of a word
PHONETIC SYMBOLS
Monothongs
1. [i] bead
2. [i] bid
3. [e] bed
4. [æ] bad
5. [
] bard
6. [] body
PHONETIC SYMBOLS
Monothongs
7. [] board
8. [] ood
9. [u] food
10. [] bud
11. [] bird
12. [] about
PHONETIC SYMBOLS
Diphthongs
1. [ei] bay
2. [ai] by
3. [i] beer
4. [] bow
PHONETIC SYMBOLS
Diphthongs
5. [i] boy
6. [e] bear
7. [] poor
8. [a] now
PHONETIC SYMBOLS
Consonants
1. [p] pan
2. [t] tall
3. [k] call
4. [b] ball
PHONETIC SYMBOLS
Consonants
5. [d] doll
6. [] irl
7. [f] fan
8. [v] van
PHONETIC SYMBOLS
Consonants
9. [ ] thih
10.["] thy
11.[s] seal
12.[d$] job
 PHONETIC SYMBOLS
Consonants
13. [&] pressure
14. [$] pleasure
15. [m] sum
16. [n] sun
PHONETIC SYMBOLS
Consonants
17. [(] sin
18. [l] little
19. [r] riht
20. [w] wise
PHONETIC SYMBOLS
Consonants
21. [j] your
22. [h] how
23. [z] zebra
24. [t&] teacher
 Allophones
/ælfnz/
No two realizations of a phoneme are
the same. This is true even when the
same word is repeated.
Variants of the same phoneme show
consistent phonetic differences. Such
consistent variants are referred to as
ALLOPHONES.
 Allophones
/ælfnz/
Allophones are different realizations of
the same phoneme.
/k/ in ‘key’ and ‘car’ are realized
differently due to the difference in
position of the two vowels.
In a way, a phoneme is seen as an ideal
object while allophones as its physical
manifestations.
 Allophones
/ælfnz/
The number of allophones in a
language is unlimited.
The difference between allophones
is the phonetic difference, which
does not change the meaning of the
word.