Definition, Meaning & Synonyms
allophone
noun
/ˈæl.ə.foʊn/
Definition
An allophone is any of the different phonetic manifestations of a single phoneme in a particular language.
Examples
- In English, the word ‘cat’ can be pronounced with a slightly softer ‘k’ sound at the beginning depending on the speaker.
- In some dialects, the ‘t’ in ‘butter’ might sound more like a ‘d’, a phenomenon known as flapping.
- The ‘p’ in ‘pin’ is aspirated while the ‘p’ in ‘spin’ is not; these are allophones of the same phoneme.
Meaning
Allophones are variations in the way a phoneme is pronounced, which do not change the meaning of the word in which they occur. They can occur due to factors like the position of the sound in a word, phonetic environment, and the speaker’s accent.
Synonyms
- phonetic variant
- phoneme variant
- pronunciation variant
