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# Phoneme

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A phoneme is a sound that can change the meaning of a word, e.g. /p/ /b/ are two phonemes of the English language due to [minimal pair]?s like /pIn/ - /bIn/. What may be an allophone? in language a may be a phoneme in language B. In English, for example, /p/ has aspirated and non-aspirated allophones, e.g. aspirated in /pIn/, but non-aspirated in /spIn/. However, in some languages (e.g. [Ancient Greek]?), aspirated /p_h/ was a phoneme distinct from both unaspirated /p/ and /b/. It is also true that there is no distinction between /r/ and /l/ in Japanese, there is only one /r/ phoneme in Japanese, and no /l/ phoneme. /z/ and /s/ are distinct phonemes in English, but allophones in Spanish. /dZ/ (as in <Jill>) and /Z/ (as in <measure>, <rouge>) are phonemes in English, but allophones in Italian.

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Last edited June 30, 2001 4:17 am (diff)
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