allofónia

Allophony is a linguistic term referring to the predictable phonetic variation of a phoneme. A phoneme is a distinct unit of sound in a language that can change the meaning of a word. Allophones are different pronunciations of the same phoneme that do not change the meaning of a word. For example, the 'p' sound in the English words "pin" and "spin" are allophones of the same phoneme. The 'p' in "pin" is aspirated, meaning a puff of air is released when it's pronounced, while the 'p' in "spin" is unaspirated. This difference in pronunciation is predictable based on its phonetic environment.

The concept of allophony is central to phonology, the study of sound systems in languages. Linguists identify phonemes by looking for minimal pairs, which are pairs of words that differ in only one sound and have different meanings. If two sounds can be substituted for each other without changing the word's meaning, they are considered allophones of the same phoneme. Conversely, if substituting a sound changes the meaning, then the two sounds represent distinct phonemes. Allophonic variation is a natural and common feature of spoken languages, and speakers are typically unaware of these subtle phonetic differences in their own speech. The specific allophones of a phoneme vary from language to language.