Concept in dialectology analyzing phonemes across dialects of a language
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A diaphoneme is an abstract phonological unit that identifies a correspondence between related sounds of two or more varieties of a language or language cluster.[1] For example,[2] some English varieties[a] contrast the vowel of late (/eː/) with that of wait or eight (/ɛɪ/). Other English varieties[b] contrast the vowel of late or wait (/eː/) with that of eight (/ɛɪ/). This non-overlapping pair of phonemes from two different varieties can be reconciled by positing three different diaphonemes: A first diaphoneme for words like late (⫽e⫽), a second diaphoneme for words like wait (⫽ei⫽), and a third diaphoneme for words like eight (⫽ex⫽).
Words
Phonemes
Diaphonemes
Variety A
Variety B
late
/eː/
/eː/
⫽e⫽
wait
/ɛɪ/
⫽ei⫽
eight
/ɛɪ/
⫽ex⫽
Diaphonology studies the realization of diaphones across dialects, and is important if an orthography is to be adequate for more than one dialect of a language. In historical linguistics, it is concerned with the reflexes of an ancestral phoneme as a language splits into dialects, such as the modern realizations of Old English /oː/.
The concept goes back to the 1930s. The word diaphone was originally used with the same meaning as diaphoneme, but was later repurposed to refer to any of the particular variants, making the relationship between diaphoneme and diaphone analogous to that between phoneme and allophone.
^Crystal (2011)
^Example adapted from Wells (1982:69–71).
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different diaphonemes: A first diaphoneme for words like late (⫽e⫽), a second diaphoneme for words like wait (⫽ei⫽), and a third diaphoneme for words...
languages (especially Sicilian), and also uses ⟨j⟩ for /j/. In Basque, the diaphoneme represented by ⟨j⟩ has a variety of realizations according to the regional...
pronunciations. These charts give a partial system of diaphonemes for English. The symbols for the diaphonemes are given in bold, followed by their most common...
allophone. Allo- Allophonic rule Allomorph Alternation (linguistics) Diaphoneme List of phonetics topics R. Jakobson (1961), Structure of Language and...
A list of typical Southern vowels English diaphoneme Southern phoneme Example words Pure vowels (monophthongs) /æ/ [æ~æɛ̯æ̯~æjə̯] act, pal, trap [æjə̯~eə̯]...
consequently likely to use the rhotic [ɝ] sound (as in General American) for the diaphoneme /ɜːr/ when preconsonantal (as in bird), even if they use non-rhotic pronunciations...
speech as the vowel [ɛ]. The PALM vowel /ɑː/ is mostly [aː]. The BATH diaphoneme is mostly to be identified with this vowel (see trap-bath split) The THOUGHT...
All vowels of Cajun English[citation needed] English diaphoneme Cajun phoneme Example words Pure vowels (Monophthongs) /æ/ [æ] act, pal, trap, ham, pass...
A list of typical older Southern vowels English diaphoneme Old Southern phoneme Example words /aɪ/ [aɪ~æɛ~aæ] bride, prize, tie [ai~aæ] bright, price,...
Standard English diphthongs English diaphoneme RP (British) Australian S.W. Irish North American GenAm Canadian low //oʊ// [əʉ̯] [ɜʉ̯~ɐʉ̯] [oː] [o̞ʊ̯~ʌʊ̯~ɔʊ̯~o̞]...
dialect is being considered, or (at a greater level of abstraction) to a diaphoneme, which represents this interdialectal correspondence. A commonly-used...
system developed by Max Weinreich in 1960 to indicate the descendent diaphonemes of the Proto-Yiddish stressed vowels.: 28 Each Proto-Yiddish vowel is...
Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Diaphonic may denote a relation to: Diaphoneme and diaphones, in linguistics Diaphonia or parallel harmony, in music...
voiceless retroflex trill is a sound that has been reported to occur as a diaphoneme of /ʂ/ in the Maldivian language. Although the tongue starts out in a...
Pure vowels (monophthongs) English diaphoneme Smith Island Ocracoke Example words /æ/ [æ~a] [æ] grab, lack, trap /æ/ before /d, l, m, n, s, t, z/ [æə~ɛə]...
a system developed by M. Weinreich (1960) to indicate the descendent diaphonemes of the Proto-Yiddish stressed vowels. Each Proto-Yiddish vowel is given...
vowels of the Inland Northern dialect Pure vowels (Monophthongs) English diaphoneme Inland Northern realization Example words /æ/ æə~eə~ɪə bath, trap, man...
Major distinctive sounds of Northern English English diaphoneme Example words Manchester (Mancunian) Lancashire Yorkshire Cumbria Northumberland (Pitmatic)...
Yemenite qamaṣ ⟨ ָ ⟩, represented in the transliterated texts by the diaphoneme /oː/, is pronounced as the English "a"-sound in "all" or as in "halt"...
educators, are used here as umbrella terms for multiple lexical sets and diaphonemes. Carney, Edward (1994). A survey of English spelling. Psychology Press...
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