The phoneme can be defined as "the smallest contrastive linguistic unit which may bring about a change of meaning" (Gimson, A.C. (2008), Cruttenden, A., ed., The Pronunciation of English (7 ed.)). This definition can be clarified by a practice called minimal pair which is listing pairs of words which are different in meaning and phonologically distinct only in one phonological element. Minimal pair can be illustrated in the following examples: The words "pin" /pɪn/ and "pan" /pæn/ are different only in their middle sounds i.e. /ɪ/ & /æ/. Therefore the sounds /ɪ/ & /æ/ are considered to be different phonemes. The words "pill" /pɪl/ and "bill" /bɪl/ are different only in their initial sounds i.e. /p/ & /b/. Therefore the sounds /p/ & /b/ are considered to be different phonemes. An allophone, on the other hand, is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds (or phones) used to pronounce a single phoneme. It can be considered to be variations of a phoneme and doesn't change the meaning of a word. e.g. the phoneme /p/ in the word "pill" /pɪl/ can be aspirated [pʰɪl ]. So the aspirated [pʰ] is considered to be the allophone of the phoneme /p/

1. Consonant Allophones
By : Bayu Jaka Magistra
180120130006

2. Phonemes
• Ancient Greek φώνημα (phōnēma), from φωνέω
(phōneō), from φωνή (phōnē) = speech sound
• The smallest unit of speech that can be used to make
one word different from another word
(www.merriam-webster.com)
• The smallest contrastive linguistic unit which may
bring about a change of meaning (Gimson, 2008)

3. speech sound, one word different from another,
meaning
A phoneme is a speech sound that
can make one word different from
another in meaning.
Minimal Pairs

4. Minimal Pairs
• It is somehow considered to be a technique to discover
phonemes of a language.
• A minimal pair is a pair of words or phrases in a particular
language, which is different in only one phonological
element…. (Jones, 1944)
• The different phonological element makes one word
different from another in meaning
• Thus the two different phonological elements in the pair of
words represent two separate phonemes in the language.

5. Minimal Pairs in English
/pɪn/
Pin
/bɪn/
Bin
/tɪn/
/kɪn/
Tin
Kin
/dʒɪn/
Gin
/tʃɪn/
/θɪn/
/sɪn/
• These words are different only in the
initial sound. Each different initial
sound makes a word different from
each other in meaning.
• So… /p/ /b/ /t/ /k/ /dʒ/ /tʃ/ /θ/
Chin and /s/ are considered to be different
phonemes.
Thin
sin

6. Minimal Pairs in English
/bæt/
/bɪt/
/buː
t/
/bet/
/bɔː
t/
Bat
Bit
Boot
Bet
• These words are different only in the
medial sound. Each different medial sound
makes a word different from each other in
meaning.
• So… /æ/ /ɪ/ /uː /e/ and /ɔː are
/
/
Bought considered to be different phonemes.

7. English Phonemes*
Vowels
Diphthongs
/ʌ/
/ɪ/
/ɑː/
/iː/
/eɪ/
/aɪ/
/eə/
/ʊ/
/e/
/uː/
/æ/
/ɔə/
/ɒ/
/ə/
/ɔː/
/ɔɪ/
/əʊ/
/aʊ/
/ɜː/
/ɪə/
/ʊə/
Consonants
/p/ /t/
/k/
/f/
/θ/
/s/
/ʃ/ /tʃ/ /h/
/n/
/r/
/w/
/b/ /d/ /g/
/v/
/ð/
/z/
/ʒ/ /dʒ/ /m/
/l/
/ŋ/ /j/
*Based on Received Pronunciation
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation)

8. Allophones
• from the Greek: ἄλλος, állos, "other" and φωνή, phōnē,
"voice, sound.“ = Other sound
• An allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken
sounds (or phones) used to pronounce a single phoneme
(Jakobson, 1980).
• Allophones do not change the meaning of a word
• Allophones happen because of the position of a phoneme
and the phonetic characteristics of neighboring sounds

9. Allophones
Allophones are phoneme variations
that do not cause meaning change
and happen because of its position
and the phonetic characteristics of
neighboring sounds.

10. Kinds of Allophones
1
2
3
Aspiration
Assimilation
Elision

11. 1. Aspiration
•
•
Characterized by strong explosion of breath or puff.
It happens to voiceless plosive consonants
( /p/ /t/ /k/ ) in the initial position.
[pʰ]
[p]
[tʰ]
[t]
[p]
[kʰ]
[k]
[t]
[k]

12. 1. Aspiration
•
•
Pen
Stop
[pʰen]
[stɒp]
aspirated
un-aspirated
•
•
Top
Bat
[tʰ ɒp]
[bæt]
aspirated
un-aspirated
•
•
King
Back
[kʰɪŋ]
[bæk]
aspirated
un-aspirated

13. 2. Assimilation
• (to) assimilate = incorporate = memasukkan.
• Assimilation is the influence of a sound on a neighboring
sound so that the two become similar or the same
(Salzmann, 2004)

14. 2. Assimilation
Examples
• White Pepper /waIt 'pepə/.
If we pronounce this phrase rapidly, the phoneme /t/ in the
word “white” /waIt / becomes /p/, because of the influence of
the phoneme /p/ in the word “pepper”/pepə/. So the phrase
becomes /waIp'pepə/
• On the house /ɒn ðə 'haʊs/
If we pronounce this phrase rapidly, the phoneme /ð/ in the
word “the” /ðə/ becomes /n/, because of the influence of the
phoneme /n/ in the word “on” /ɒn/ . So the phrase becomes
/ɒn nə 'haʊs/

15. 3. Elision
• An elision is the omission of a sound for phonological
reasons (Algeo, 1999)
The next day
/ðə ‘neks(t) ‘deɪ/
The last car
/ðə ‘lɑ:s(t) kɑ:/
Hold the dog!
/’həʊl(d) ðə ‘dɒg/
Send Frank a card. /sen(d) ‘fræŋk ə ‘kɑ:d/
The phoneme /t/ is
elided
The phoneme /t/ is
elided
The phoneme /d/ is
elided
The phoneme /d/ is
elided

16. Quiz
peter piper picked a peck of peckled
peppers, a peck of pickled peppers peter
piper picked, if peter piper picked a peck of
peckled pepers, where's the peck of pickled
peppers peter piper picked?

17. Thank You Very Much
Bibliography
Algeo, J. (1999). Vocabulary. In S. Romaine (Ed.), The Cambridge
History of the English Language (Vol. IV). Cambridge Univ. Press.
Gimson, A. C. (2008). The Pronunciation of English (7 ed.). London ,
England: Hodder.
Jakobson, R. (1980). Structure of Language and Its Mathematical
Aspects: Proceedings of symposia in applied mathematics. AMS
Bookstore.
Jones, D. (1944). Chronemes and Tonemes. Copenhagen: Acta
Linguistica.
Salzmann, Z. (2004). Language, Culture, and Society: An Introduction
to Linguistic Anthropology. Westview.