Definition of Allophone:

An allophone refers to any one of the variant forms of a phoneme. Phonemes are the basic units of sound that differentiate meaning in a language. Allophones, on the other hand, are the different ways in which a phoneme can be pronounced without changing the meaning of a word.

Key characteristics of Allophones:

• Variant forms of phonemes: Allophones represent different pronunciations or realizations of a phoneme.
• No change in meaning: Allophones may sound different, but they do not alter the meaning of the word they are used in.
• Context-dependent: The specific allophone used in a word can depend on various factors like neighboring sounds, stress, or syllable position.

Example:

In English, the “t” sound in words like “top” and “stop” differs slightly, but these different pronunciations do not lead to a change in meaning. The first “t” in “top” is typically aspirated, while the “t” in “stop” is usually unaspirated. These two variants of the “t” sound are allophones of the phoneme /t/ in English.