What is an allophone?

• A. Two different but similar phonemes
• B. A sound variation of a phoneme depending on context
• C. The smallest meaningful unit of language
• D. A stressed syllable

Answer: (B)

Allophones are different pronunciations of the same phoneme that occur in different contexts. They are sound realizations that don’t change meaning, because the underlying category is still the same phoneme. For example, the /t/ sound in English can be aspirated [tʰ] as in “top” and unaspirated [t] as in “stop”; these are two allophones of the same phoneme /t/ that appear in different environments. Since swapping one for the other doesn’t change the word’s meaning, they aren’t separate phonemes. This is why the description “a sound variation of a phoneme depending on context” is the best match. The other ideas refer to different linguistic units or features—two distinct phonemes would change meaning, a morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language, and a stressed syllable pertains to rhythm, not allophonic variation.