What does it mean when two sounds are in complementary distribution?

Complementary Distribution indicates that two basic sounds are not independent PHONEMES, but conditioned variants of the same phoneme, of the same minimally distinctive sound. Non-contrastive variants of a phoneme are called ALLOPHONES.

How can you tell when two sounds are in complementary distribution?

Two classes of sounds are in complementary distribution if there is a context such that one class only occurs there and the other class can’t occur there. For English speakers, aspirated [pH] and unaspirated [p] seem like slightly different versions of the same sound.

What does it mean when two sounds are in free variation?

In linguistics, free variation is the phenomenon of two (or more) sounds or forms appearing in the same environment without a change in meaning and without being considered incorrect by native speakers.

When two sounds can never occur in the same environment those two sounds are in?

When a phoneme has more than one allophone, the one actually heard at a given occurrence of that phoneme may be dependent on the phonetic environment (surrounding sounds) – allophones which normally cannot appear in the same environment are said to be in complementary distribution.

When two sounds are in complementary distribution Which of the following will not be true?

when sounds are in complementary distribution you will NOT find a minimal pair. two sounds in complementary distribution are allophones of the SAME phoneme. These sounds are PREDICTABLY distributed. pairs of words that differ in ONE sound (are in the same phonetic environment).

What is complementary distribution example?

Complementary distribution is the distribution of phones in their respective phonetic environments in which one phone never appears in the same phonetic context as the other. For example, English [h] and [ŋ] are in complementary distribution: [h] occurs only at the beginning of a syllable and [ŋ] only at the end.

When two sounds are allophones of the same phoneme their distribution is predictable?

The variants within a phoneme category are called allophones. Allophones usually appear in complementary distribution, that is, a given allophone of one phoneme appears in one predictable environment, but the other allophones of that phoneme never appear in that environment.

What is the difference between complementary and free variation?

In linguistics, complementary distribution, as distinct from contrastive distribution and free variation, is the relationship between two different elements of the same kind in which one element is found in one set of environments and the other element is found in a non-intersecting (complementary) set of environments.

What is the difference between complementary and contrastive distribution?

Contrastive distribution in linguistics, as opposed to complementary distribution or free variation, is the relationship between two different elements in which both elements are found in the same environment with a change in meaning.

When two or more sounds never occur in the same phonemic context?

In phonology Complementary distribution is the distribution of phones in their respective phonetic environments in which one phone never appears in the same phonetic context as the other.

When two sounds are allophones of the same phoneme and in complementary distribution Which of the following is true?

two sounds in complementary distribution are allophones of the SAME phoneme. These sounds are PREDICTABLY distributed. pairs of words that differ in ONE sound (are in the same phonetic environment). if these TWO sounds are allophones of the same phoneme, they are in FREE VARIATION (no difference in meaning).

What does it mean to say that two sounds are two different phonemes?

If the difference between those two sounds leads to a difference in meaning in a given language, then we say that those two sounds contrast in that language. And if two sounds are contrastive in a given language, then those two sounds are considered two different phonemes in that language.