Editing Minimal pair (section)

{{short description|Two words that differ in only one element of their pronunciation}}
{{IPA notice}}
In [[phonology]], '''minimal pairs''' are pairs of [[word]]s or phrases in a particular [[language]], spoken or [[Sign language|signed]], that differ in only one phonological element, such as a [[phoneme]], [[toneme]] or [[chroneme]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=Daniel |title=Chronemes and tonemes: (a contribution to the study of the theory of phonemes) |journal=Acta Linguistica |date=January 1944 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=11–10 |doi=10.1080/03740463.1944.10410902}}</ref> and have distinct meanings. They are used to demonstrate that two [[phone (phonetics)|phones]] represent two separate phonemes in the language.

Many phonologists in the middle part of the 20th century had a strong interest in developing techniques for discovering the phonemes of unknown languages, and in some cases, they set up writing systems for the languages. The major work of [[Kenneth Pike]] on the subject is ''Phonemics: a technique for reducing languages to writing''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Pike|first=Kenneth|year=1947|title=Phonemics}}</ref> The minimal pair was an essential tool in the discovery process and was found by '''substitution''' or '''commutation''' tests.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Swadesh |first1=Morris |title=The Phonemic Principle |journal=Language |date=June 1934 |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=117 |doi=10.2307/409603 |jstor=409603}}</ref>

As an example for [[English language|English]] [[vowel]]s, the pair "l'''e'''t" + "l'''i'''t" can be used to demonstrate that the phones {{IPA|[ɛ]}} (in l'''e'''t) and {{IPA|[ɪ]}} (in l'''i'''t) actually represent distinct phonemes {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/ɪ/}}. An example for English [[consonants]] is the minimal pair of "'''p'''at" + "'''b'''at". The following table shows other pairs demonstrating the existence of various distinct phonemes in English. All of the possible minimal pairs for any language may be set out in the same way.

{|class="wikitable"
! word 1 || word 2 || IPA 1 || IPA 2 || note
|-
| pin || bin || {{IPA|/pɪn/}} || {{IPA|/bɪn/}}
| rowspan="3"| initial consonant
|-
| rot || lot || {{IPA|/rɒt/}} || {{IPA|/lɒt/}}
|-
| seal || zeal ||{{IPA|/siːl/}}||{{IPA|/ziːl/}}
|-
| bin || bean || {{IPA|/bɪn/}} || {{IPA|/biːn/}}
| rowspan="3"| vowel
|-
| pen || pan || {{IPA|/pɛn/}} || {{IPA|/pæn/}}
|-
|| cook || kook || {{IPA|/kʊk/}} || {{IPA|/kuːk/}}

|-

| hat || had || {{IPA|/hæt/}} || {{IPA|/hæd/}}
| rowspan="3"| final consonant
|-
|| mean || meme || {{IPA|/miːn/}} || {{IPA|/miːm/}}
|-
| teeth || teethe || {{IPA|/tiːθ/}} || {{IPA|/tiːð/}}
|-
|}

[[Phonemic differentiation]] may vary between different [[dialect]]s of a language so a particular minimal pair in one [[accent (dialect)|accent]] may be a pair of [[homophone]]s in another. That means not that one of the phonemes is absent in the homonym accent but only that it is not contrastive in the same range of contexts.