Minimal Pairs

Minimal Pairs:
            If two sounds are phonetically similar and occur in the same phonetic environment, and if the substitution of one sound for the other results in a difference in meaning, then these sounds ate assigned to different phonemes. For example, if [ph] is substitute for the [b] in 'bin', a different word 'pin' results. On the other hand, if [ph] is substituted for the [p] in 'spin', we do not obtain a different word. We have that the conclusion that the [ph] and [b] belong to different phonemes, while [ph] and [p] is belong to same phoneme.




It can easily be shown that two sounds belong to different phonemes if we find two words that differ only in that one word has one of these two sounds in a particular position while the other word has the other sound in the same position. Two such words, for example, 'pin' and 'bin' - which differ only by one sound, are said to constitute a minimal pair.