phoneme

The Phoneme
-Segments: These are small pieces into which the stream of sounds is divided. Thus, the word ‘ man’ , for example, is divided into the segments ‘ m ‘ , ‘a’ , and ‘ n ‘. The range of sounds practically produced by speakers is infinite. Some segments cause a change of meaning when they replace each other. For example, when we replace the segment ‘a’ in ‘ bad’ by the segment’ e’ , a change in meaning will result and the word in question will become ‘ bed’ which has a totally different meaning. However, some other segments do not cause a difference in meaning when they replace each other. For instance, when dark ‘l’ replaces clear ‘l’ in the word please , no difference in meaning will be caused.
Free Variation: This a phonological process wherein the segments replace each other in the same contexts without causing a difference in meaning as in the example above.
Phonemes in Contrast: When the change of segments for other ones in the same context causes a change in meaning, these are called ‘ phonemes in contrast. For example, replacing the first segment in ‘pick’ by ‘ t’ , ‘l’, ‘s’ will result in completely different words with different meanings, ‘tick’ , ‘lick, and ‘sick’ respectively. Such kinds of segments are called phonemes.They can be defined as ‘ the smallest meaningful sound units in the sound system of a certain language. These units are characterized by being abstract and they can be realized differently when they are produced and become concrete.These different realizations, pronunciations, or variants are called’ allophones’.For example the phoneme / p/ can be realized as aspirated {ph} as in ‘ put’, or as non-aspirated [p] as in ‘stop’.
The phonemes of a certain language include their vowels and their consonants. The complete set of these sound units is called the’ phonemic system’ of that language.