The abstract aspect

This aspect is reflected in the following part of the definition: “language unit”. The phoneme belongs to the language while the allophone belongs to the speech. Language is an abstract category, it is an abstraction from speech. Thus the phoneme as a language unit is materialized in the form of speech sounds.

Distinctive features of the phoneme (relevant): these are features that can’t be changed without the change of meaning.

[t] – 1) occlusive, 2) forelingual, 3) fortis.

§ forelingual —> backlingual —> [k](tom – com)

§ occlusive —> constructive —> [s](tin – sin)

§ fortis —> lenis —> [d] —> (ton – don)

A bundle of distinctive features is called invariant.

The functional aspect

This aspect is reflected in the following part of the definition: “opposable”. This is the main aspect of the phoneme. Phonemes are capable of differentiating the meaning of morphemes (“seems” – “seemed”), of words (“spot” – “sport”), of sentences (“He was heard badly” – “He was hurt badly”, “There is no room for you in my hut” – “There is no room for you in my heart”).

How can the phoneme perform this function? We have already mentioned that the change of the invariant results in the change of meaning. The phoneme can perform the distinctive function when it is opposed to another phoneme in the same phonetic context ([kɑːt] – [pɑːt]). In this case the phonemes fifer in one articulatory feature: backlingual – forelingual. The articulatory features that don’t affect the meaning are called “non-distinctive (inrelevant)”. A good example of such feature is aspiration. That brings us to the problem that is important in terms of pronunciation teaching: the problem of phonetic and phonological mistakes.

The mistake is called phonological if an allophone of the same phoneme is replaced by an allophone of a different phoneme (“sit” [ɪ] – seat [iː]).

The mistake is called phonetic if an allophone of some phoneme is replaced by the allophone of the same phoneme (“Pit” without aspiration).