SEMINAR ON

LINGUISTICS

ARRANGED BY
LARASATI K2206021
VINA ARDIAN S P K2206037
the statement:

The words ‘mate-meet’,
‘seat-eats’ and ‘write-
right’ are minimal pairs.
 WHAT IS MINIMAL PAIR?
 Minimal pairs are pairs of words or
phrases in a particular language,
which differ in only one phonological
element (phone, phoneme) and have
a dictinct meaning.
 They are used to demonstrate that
two phones constitute two separate
phonemes in the language.

 For the example
• For english vowel:
 ship / p/
 sheep /i:p/


• For english consonant

 pat /pæt/
 bat /bæt/
 More examples:



Word 1 Word 2 IPA 1 IPA 2 Note
Pin Bin /pɪn/ /bɪn/ Initial
Rot Lot /rɒt/ /lɒt/ consonan
Zeal Seal /ziːl/ /siːl/ t
Bin Bean /bɪn/ /bin/ vowel
Pen Pan /pen/ /pæn/

hat had /hæt/ /hæd/ Final

consonan
t
 Case 1:
the words ‘mate-meet’

case 2:
the words ‘seat-eat’
case 3:
the words ‘write-right



are ’
these words minimal pairs?????
 Identification the first case:
the words ‘mate-meet’
mate /meit/ Meet /mi:t/
[m] [ei] [t] [m] [i:] [t]

These words are



minimal pairs??

These are contrastive distribution

 Identification the first case:
the words ‘seat-eat’
word ipa meaning
Seat /si:t/ Something used for
sitting on
eats /i:ts/ Put food into one’s
mouth and swallow it

the same phoneme , but contrast in the positio

 Identification the first case:
the words ‘write-right’
word IPA Meaning
write /rait/ Menulis
right /rait/ Benar/ hak

and ‘ right ’ have a same pronunciation but hav

e, NOT minimal pairs .
 Conclusion
• Minimal pair is a set of two words that are
only differentiated by one tiny sound.
• Minimal pair happens when two sounds can
be used to differentiate words.
• So, according to the statement above, the
word ‘mate-meet’, ‘seat-eats’ and ‘write-
right’ are NOT minimal pair.
•
Thank You
 Phone/ phonetics
• A speech sounds or gesture
considered a physical event without
regard to its place in the phonology
of a language.
• Phonetic symbology is always set off
within square brackets [].
 phoneme
• is the smallest segmental unit of
sound employed to form
meaningful contrasts between
utterances.
• Phoneme symbology is always set off
within slant bracket //.
•
•
 Contrastive distribution
• is the relationship between two
different elements, where both
elements are found in the same
environment with a change in
meaning. An example of this in
English would be /d/ and /p/, as can
be seen in the words dot and pot.
•
 homophone
• Homophones are words that have
exactly the same sound
(pronunciation) but different
meanings and (usually) spelling. For
example;
• The following two words have the same
sound, but different meanings and
spelling:
 hour
 our
• The two words have same sounds and
spelling, but different meanings:
 Bear (the animal)