Phoneme

Phonologists have differing views of the phoneme. Following are the two major views considered here:

• In the American structuralist tradition, a phoneme is defined according to its allophones and environments.
• In the generative tradition, a phoneme is defined as a set of distinctive features.

(English): Minimal pair

Here are examples of the phonemes /r/ and /l/ occurring in a minimal pair:

• rip
• lip

The phones [r] and [l] contrast in identical environments and are considered to be separate phonemes. The phonemes /r/ and /l/ serve to distinguish the word rip from the word lip.

(English): Distinctive features

Here are examples of the English phonemes /p/ and /i/ specified as sets of distinctive features:

• /p/ /i/
• -syllabic +consonantal -sonorant +anterior -coronal -voice -continuant -nasal+syllabic -consonantal +sonorant +high -low -back -round +ATR -nasal

Here is a chart that compares phones and phonemes:

A phone is …	A phoneme is …
One of many possible sounds in the languages of the world.	A contrastive unit in the sound system of a particular language.
The smallest identifiable unit found in a stream of speech.	A minimal unit that serves to distinguish between meanings of words.
Pronounced in a defined way.	Pronounced in one or more ways, depending on the number of allophones.
Represented between brackets by convention. Example: [b], [j], [o]	Represented between slashes by convention. Example: /b/, /j/, /o/