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Er [[yezhoniezh]] e vez implijet an termen '''fonemenn''' ([[Saozneg|saoz.]]: [[:en:Phoneme|''phoneme'']]) war dachenn ar [[fonologiezh]] evit komz eus
is one of several similar [[phone]]s that belong to the same [[phoneme]].
In [[phonetics]], an '''allophone''' is one of several similar [[phone]]s that belong to the same [[phoneme]]. A phone is a sound that has a definite shape as a sound wave, while a phoneme is a basic group of sounds that can distinguish words (i.e. changing one phoneme in a word can produce another word); speakers of a particular language perceive a phoneme as a single distinctive sound in that language. Thus an allophone is a phone considered as a member of one phoneme.
We may distinguish '''complementary allophones''', which are distributed regularly within the [[idiolect]] of the same speaker according to phonetic environment, from '''[[free variation|free variants]]''', which are a matter of personal habit or regional accent.
In the case of complementary allophones, each allophone is used in a specific phonetic context and many times there is some sort of [[phonology|phonological]] process. Not all phonemes have significantly different allophones, but there are always minor differences in articulation from one piece of speech to the next.
== Examples in English ==
For example, {{IPA|[pʰ]}} as in ''pin'' and {{IPA|[p]}} as in ''spin'' are allophones for the phoneme {{IPA|/p/}} in the [[English language]] because they occur in [[complementary distribution]]. English speakers generally treat these as the same sound, but they are different; the first is [[aspirated]] and the second is [[unaspirated]] (plain). Plain {{IPA|[p]}} also occurs as the '''p''' in ''cap'' {{IPA|[kæp]}}, or the second '''p''' in ''paper'' {{IPA|[pʰeɪ.pɚ]}}. In contexts where plain '''p''' appears in English (e.g. ''spin'', ''cap'', ''paper''), speakers may hear it as '''b''' since the '''p''' in these contexts lacks the burst of air found with the '''p''' in ''pin''.
Certain [[Spoken Chinese|Chinese]] languages treat these two phones differently, for example in Mandarin, {{IPA|[p]}} is always written '''b''' in [[pinyin]]; thus, they are not allophones.
English-speaking people may become aware of the difference between two allophones of the phoneme '''t''' when they consider the pronunciations of the following phrases:
*''Night rate'': [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] {{IPA|[naɪtˀ.ɹeɪtˀ]}}
*''Nitrate'': IPA {{IPA|[ˈnaɪˌtɹeɪtˀ]}}
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