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Complementary distribution

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There are cases of elements being in complementary distribution but not being considered allophones. For example, English and are in complementary distribution: occurs only at the beginning of a syllable and only at the end. However, because they have so little in common in phonetic terms, they
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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 variants are in complementary distribution, one can predict when each will occur because one can simply look at the
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The term often indicates that two superficially-different elements are the same linguistic unit at a deeper level, though more than two elements can be in complementary distribution with one another.
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encompass every environment in which the English indefinite article is used, i.e. there are two different "forms" of the same "word" instead of two different words.
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The concept of complementary distribution is applied in the analysis of word forms (
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because they occur in complementary distribution. always occurs when it is the
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of the same phoneme. For instance, in English, and are allophones of the
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The "distribution" (usage according to environments) of the forms
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are ungrammatical (as is marked with "*" in linguistics).
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is used before a word beginning with a consonant sound.
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Linguistic elements never occurring in the same context
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is used before a word that begins with a vowel sound.
161:. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see 229:). occurs in all other situations (as in the word 49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. 192:Complementary distribution is commonly applied to 275:). An example is the English indefinite articles 189:environment in which the allophone is occurring. 431: 175:IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters 335:is "complementary" because of three factors: 200:in complementary distribution are usually 109:Learn how and when to remove this message 249:are still considered separate phonemes. 432: 215:and, most likely, when followed by a 165:. For the distinction between , 47:adding citations to reliable sources 18: 13: 14: 451: 291:are grammatical, but the usages 252: 23: 157:International Phonetic Alphabet 143: 34:needs additional citations for 414: 322:That can be notated as "__ C". 310:That can be notated as "__ V". 1: 407: 267:). Two different word forms ( 58:"Complementary distribution" 7: 421:An Introduction to Language 375: 10: 456: 256: 181: 127:complementary distribution 382:Contrastive distribution 131:contrastive distribution 153:phonetic transcriptions 150:This section contains 43:improve this article 423:by Victoria Fromkin 129:(as distinct from 387:Distributionalism 196:in which similar 119: 118: 111: 93: 447: 424: 418: 222:(as in the word 210: 172: 168: 114: 107: 103: 100: 94: 92: 51: 27: 19: 455: 454: 450: 449: 448: 446: 445: 444: 430: 429: 428: 427: 419: 415: 410: 378: 261: 255: 186: 180: 179: 178: 146: 115: 104: 98: 95: 52: 50: 40: 28: 17: 12: 11: 5: 453: 443: 442: 426: 425: 412: 411: 409: 406: 405: 404: 399: 394: 392:Free variation 389: 384: 377: 374: 362: 361: 358: 347: 336: 324: 323: 320: 312: 311: 308: 257:Main article: 254: 251: 213:syllable onset 182:Main article: 173:⟩, see 149: 148: 147: 145: 142: 135:free variation 117: 116: 31: 29: 22: 15: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 452: 441: 438: 437: 435: 422: 417: 413: 403: 400: 398: 395: 393: 390: 388: 385: 383: 380: 379: 373: 371: 367: 359: 356: 352: 348: 345: 341: 337: 334: 330: 326: 325: 321: 318: 314: 313: 309: 306: 302: 301: 300: 298: 294: 290: 286: 283:. The usages 282: 278: 274: 270: 266: 260: 253:In morphology 250: 246: 244: 242: 236: 234: 228: 226: 221: 218: 214: 207: 203: 199: 195: 190: 185: 176: 164: 160: 158: 154: 141: 138: 136: 132: 128: 124: 113: 110: 102: 91: 88: 84: 81: 77: 74: 70: 67: 63: 60: –  59: 55: 54:Find sources: 48: 44: 38: 37: 32:This article 30: 26: 21: 20: 420: 416: 397:Minimal pair 369: 365: 363: 357:is not used; 354: 350: 346:is not used; 343: 339: 332: 328: 316: 304: 296: 292: 288: 284: 280: 276: 262: 247: 240: 238: 232: 230: 224: 223: 191: 187: 169:and ⟨ 151: 144:In phonology 139: 126: 120: 105: 96: 86: 79: 72: 65: 53: 41:Please help 36:verification 33: 353:is used if 342:is used if 293:*a aardvark 285:an aardvark 123:linguistics 408:References 364:The forms 269:allomorphs 265:morphology 202:allophones 69:newspapers 440:Phonology 315:The form 303:The form 259:Allomorph 194:phonology 184:Allophone 434:Category 376:See also 297:*an bear 273:morpheme 237:, or in 217:stressed 167:/ / 163:Help:IPA 99:May 2009 402:Phoneme 206:phoneme 155:in the 83:scholar 289:a bear 198:phones 171:  85:  78:  71:  64:  56:  220:vowel 159:(IPA) 90:JSTOR 76:books 368:and 349:(2) 338:(1) 331:and 295:and 287:and 279:and 243:ing' 133:and 62:news 245:). 239:sip 209:/p/ 121:In 45:by 436:: 370:an 355:an 340:an 329:an 305:an 281:an 235:in 227:in 125:, 366:a 351:a 344:a 333:a 317:a 277:a 241:p 233:p 231:s 225:p 177:. 112:) 106:( 101:) 97:( 87:· 80:· 73:· 66:· 39:.

Index


verification
improve this article
adding citations to reliable sources
"Complementary distribution"
news
newspapers
books
scholar
JSTOR
Learn how and when to remove this message
linguistics
contrastive distribution
free variation
phonetic transcriptions
International Phonetic Alphabet
Help:IPA
IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters
Allophone
phonology
phones
allophones
phoneme
syllable onset
stressed
vowel
Allomorph
morphology
allomorphs
morpheme

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