allophone1
/ˈaləfəʊn
/noun Phonetics
Any of the various phonetic realizations of a phoneme in a language, which do not contribute to distinctions of meaning. For example, in English an aspirated p (as in pin) and unaspirated p (as in spin) are allophones of p, whereas in ancient Greek the distinction was phonemic.A phone is a realization in sound of a phoneme, and an allophone is one such realization among others: for example, English /n/ is normally alveolar, but is dental before the dental fricative in ‘tenth’....
- The allophone occurs in onset position of stressed syllables whereas the unaspirated allophone [p] occurs after syllable-initial [s].
Derivatives
allophonic
- Children were not penalized for allophonic / dialect variation in vowel production, nor for systematic articulation errors.
- Most speakers are largely unaware of the extent of allophonic variation in their language.
- When listening for allophonic variation, it is necessary to try and distance yourself from a language.
Origin
1930s: from allo- 'other, different' + phoneme.
allophone2
/ˈaləfəʊn/noun Canadian
(Especially in Quebec) an immigrant whose first language is neither French nor English.In a worried report, a Université de Montréal demographer suggests that so many francophones are moving there that by 2021 allophones and anglophones will combine to form the majority of Montreal's population....
- In Quebec, the linguistic majority abuses the groups they call anglophones and allophones.
- Anglophone, francophone and allophone, we are Canadians, first of all.
Origin
1970s: from allo-, on the pattern of francophone.