Minimal pair

A pair of words that differ in exactly one speech sound and have different meanings. Minimal pairs demonstrate that the differing sounds contrast in a language.

Phoneme: A contrastive sound category in a language that can distinguish words. A minimal pair demonstrates that its differing sounds belong to distinct phoneme categories.
Phonemic analysis: The identification of a language's contrastive sound units and their distribution. Minimal pairs are direct evidence that two sounds function as separate phonemes.
Phonological contrast: A difference between sound units that distinguishes meaning in a language. The single sound difference must mark a real contrast for the pair to be minimal.
English voicing contrast: The distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants in English, as in /b/ and /p/. Pairs such as “pat” and “bat” isolate voicing as the sound difference.
Minimal set: A group of words that differ in the same phonological position by different contrastive sounds. A minimal set extends a two-word contrast to several sounds in one environment.
Phone: A concrete speech sound produced or perceived in a particular utterance. The contrasting sounds in a minimal pair are realized as phones.
Second-language acquisition: The process of learning a language after an earlier language has been acquired. Minimal-pair practice helps learners hear and produce unfamiliar sound contrasts.
Substitution test: A linguistic method that replaces one element with another to test its function or distribution. Replacing one sound while holding the surrounding form constant exposes the contrast.
Mandarin tone: The use of pitch patterns in Mandarin to distinguish lexical meanings. Mandarin words with the same segments can form minimal pairs through tone alone.
Allophonic variation: Noncontrastive pronunciation differences among realizations of the same phoneme. Unlike a minimal-pair contrast, allophonic variation does not distinguish word meanings.

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