What is the difference between a phone and a phoneme?

Phonetics And Phonology Questions



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What is the difference between a phone and a phoneme?

A phone is a speech sound produced by humans, while a phoneme is a distinct unit of sound in a particular language that can change the meaning of a word. In other words, a phone is a physical sound, whereas a phoneme is an abstract representation of a sound that carries meaning in a specific language.