Allophonic

Allophonic is an adjective relating to allophony, the phenomenon in which a single phoneme has multiple phonetic realizations called allophones. These variants occur in predictable contexts and do not by themselves change the meaning of words in a language.

In phonology, allophones belong to the same phoneme and are described by rules or patterns that specify when each variant appears. When two sounds are in contrastive distribution, they are considered separate phonemes because they can distinguish words. Allophones, in contrast, typically appear in complementary distribution or in free variation, and they do not create minimal pairs.

A classic English example involves the voiceless stops /p, t, k/. These sounds are often realized as aspirated [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ] in syllable-initial positions, especially before a stressed vowel, and as unaspirated [p, t, k] in other contexts such as after an initial s in a consonant cluster (as in spin). Another well-known case is the American English pronunciation of /t/ and /d/, which can become a voiced alveolar tap [ɾ] between vowels when the second syllable is unstressed, as in water, producing an allophonic realization rather than a separate phoneme.

Other languages show allophony through processes like final devoicing in German, where underlying voiced obstruents are realized as voiceless [p, t, k] at the end of words. Allophony is a central concept in phonology, illustrating how perceptual and articulatory constraints shape pronounced forms without altering lexical meaning.