K HELP > GRAMMARWhat is the difference between a phoneme and an allophone?What is the difference between a phoneme and an allophone?print Print document PDF list CiteExpert AnswersROBERTWILLIAM | CERTIFIED EDUCATORA phoneme is a unit of sound in a language that cannot be analysed into smaller linear units and that can distinguish one word from another.Phonemes are often presented surrounded by // in transcription (e.g. /P/ and /b/ in English pat, bat).So /p/ and /b/ are two phonemes because they can distinguish between the words "pat" and "bat". /c/ is another, because it distinguishes the word "cat" from "pat" and "bat".Allophones are any of the variants making up a single phoneme.So, for example, you might pronounce the LETTER "T" differently in the two words "stand" and "tip". A common test to determine whether two phones are allophones or separate phonemes relies on finding MINIMAL PAIRS: words that differ by only the phones in question. For example, the words tipand dip illustrate that [t] and [d] are separate phonemes, /t/ and /d/, in English.