Minimal Pairs PDF

Minimal Pairs — How do we determine whether two sounds are allophones of the same phoneme or separate phonemes? — The easiest way is to look for a minimal pair. — Two words form a minimal pair when they vary by only a single sound. These are minimal pairs in English: [but] - [sut] [splæt] - [splæʃ]...

Minimal Pairs — How do we determine whether two sounds are allophones of the same phoneme or separate phonemes? — The easiest way is to look for a minimal pair. — Two words form a minimal pair when they vary by only a single sound. These are minimal pairs in English: [but] - [sut] [splæt] - [splæʃ] [khʌp] - [khʌb] [bæt] - [bat] 13 Minimal Pairs: Be Careful! — If two words differ by more than one sound then they are not minimal pairs—even if they sound very similar! — The following pairs of English words are not minimal pairs: [blæst] - [pæst] [mʌg] - [gʌm] [hæm] - [spæm] 14 Why do minimal pairs matter? — Minimal Pair: English speakers do not think that [ph] and [b] are the same sound, so changing that sound alone can trigger a change in meaning. [bɛt] - [phɛt] — Changing [ph] to [b] triggers a change in meaning — [ph] and [b] represent different sounds in English! ù [b] is an allophone of the phoneme /b/ ù [ph] is an allophone of the phoneme /p/ 15 Why do minimal pairs maLer? — An example of no minimal pair: English speakers do consider [p] and [ph] to be the same basic sound—they are both allophones of /p/! [spɪn] vs. [sphɪn] — Substituting an aspirated [p] for the unaspirated [p] doesn’t cause a change in meaning — This tells us that we are dealing with allophones of the same phoneme — [p] is an allophone of the phoneme /p/ — [ph] is an allophone of the phoneme /p/ 16