In
phonology,
minimal pairs are pairs of
words or phrases in a particular
language, which differ in only one phonological element, such as a
phone,
phoneme,
toneme or
chroneme and have a distinct meaning. They are used to demonstrate that two phones constitute two separate phonemes in the language.
As an example for English vowels, the pair "let" + "lit" can be used to demonstrate that the phones [?] (in let) and [?] (in lit) do in fact represent distinct phonemes /?/ and /?/. An example for English consonants is the minimal pair of "pat" + "bat". In phonetics, this pair, like any other, differs in number of ways. In this case, the contrast appears largely to be conveyed with a difference in the voice onset time of the initial consonant as the configuration of the mouth is same for [p] and [b]; however, there is also a possible difference in duration, which visual analysis using high quality video supports.
Following pairs prove existence of various distinct phonemes in English.
In the articulation of bilabial plosives, 4 phones are defined by the characteristics voiced/unvoiced and aspirated/unaspirated [p], [p?], [b] and [b?]. In different languages only some of these may occur and the number of phonemes formed may be different again.
