allophone

noun

Meaning

A phonetic variation of a single phoneme that does not change the meaning of a word.

Examples

Linguists study how allophones are distributed based on the surrounding sounds in a word.
The two distinct pronunciations of the letter 't' in 'top' and 'stop' are considered allophones in many dialects of English.

Synonyms: variant, realization, phonetic variant, allophonic variation

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allophone

noun

Pronunciation: /ˈæləfoʊn/

Definition

A phonetic variation of a single phoneme that does not change the meaning of a word.

Examples

Linguists study how allophones are distributed based on the surrounding sounds in a word.
The two distinct pronunciations of the letter 't' in 'top' and 'stop' are considered allophones in many dialects of English.
Students often find it difficult to hear the difference between allophones because their brains categorize them as the same sound.

Synonyms of allophone

Words with a similar meaning to allophone:

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