Smallest unit of sound in a language which can distinguish two

words

Meaning Distinguisher Phoneme : A minimal unit of sound

capable of distinguishing words of different meaning

e.g. pin-bin

Families of Sound Phoneme : A group of one or more phone-

types that are phonetically similar either in complementary distribution or in free variation

e.g. /l/ [l],[l],[l] /p/ [p ],[p],[p ]

Two words in a language which differ from each other by only one distinctive sound (one phoneme) and also differ in meaning

Example: Pear – bear /peə/ - /beə/

Position: Initial : /kæt/-/ræt/ Medial: /∫ip/- /∫i:p/ Final : /bæd/-/ bædʒ/

Any different forms of a phoneme A Phone-type(s) which belongs to a

phoneme e.g. /l/ [l],[l],[l] /p/ [p ],[p],[p ]

/-s/ /-s/, /-z/, /-iz/ /-d/ /-t/, /-d/, /-id/