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An allophone is a phonetic variant of a phoneme. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish one word from another. Allophones are the different ways a single phoneme can be pronounced without changing the meaning of the word. For example, in English, the 'p' sound in "pin" is aspirated (a puff of air follows it), while the 'p' sound in "spin" is unaspirated. Both of these are allophones of the same phoneme /p/, and replacing one with the other does not change the word's meaning.

The distribution of allophones within a language is typically phonologically determined. This means that the choice of which allophone to use is predictable based on its phonetic environment. For instance, the aspirated 'p' occurs at the beginning of a stressed syllable, while the unaspirated 'p' occurs after an 's'. Speakers of a language are generally unaware of these variations and perceive allophones of the same phoneme as identical.

The concept of allophones is crucial in phonology and linguistics for understanding the sound system of a language. It helps differentiate between sounds that are phonemically distinctive (meaning they change word meaning) and those that are merely phonetic variations. Studying allophones contributes to a deeper understanding of pronunciation, accent, and language acquisition.