In phonology, an allophone (/ˈæləfoʊn/; from the Greek: ἄλλος, állos, "other" and φωνή, phōnē, "voice, sound") is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds (or phones) or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, [pʰ] (as in pin) and [p] (as in spin) are allophones for the phoneme /p/ in the English language. The specific allophone selected in a given situation is often predictable from the phonetic context (such allophones are called positional variants), but sometimes allophones occur in free variation. Replacing a sound by another allophone of the same phoneme will usually not change the meaning of a word, although sometimes the result may sound non-native or even unintelligible. Native speakers of a given language usually perceive one phoneme in that language as a single distinctive sound, and are "both unaware of and even shocked by" the allophone variations used to pronounce single phonemes.
The term "allophone" was coined by Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s. In doing so, he placed a cornerstone in consolidating early phoneme theory. The term was popularized by G. L. Trager and Bernard Bloch in a 1941 paper on English phonology and went on to become part of standard usage within the American structuralist tradition.
In Quebec, an allophone is a resident, usually an immigrant, whose mother tongue or home language is neither French nor English. The term can also be sometimes used in other parts of Canada. The term parallels Anglophone (English-speaker), and Francophone, which designate people whose mother tongues are English and French, respectively. Note that native speakers of aboriginal languages are generally not treated as allophones.
The word "allophone" is formed from the Greek roots ἄλλος (állos), meaning "other", and φωνή (phōnḗ), meaning "sound" or "voice". The term became popularized during the Quiet Revolution as French Canadian society in Quebec sought to integrate immigrants, most of whom had traditionally integrated into the English-speaking community. As integrating immigrants was deemed essential to assure the survival of French-speaking Quebec in light of plummeting birth rates, demographers devised this category to monitor the integration of immigrants into French- and English-speaking communities. Because allophones often adopt English, French or both languages at home or learn one language before another, they can be grouped into English or French communities based on home language or first official language learned.
It dawned on me
That basically
They have put a price on everything.
In a world of greed
And exploiting needs
Some are cashing in, while others bleed.
If I sung out of tune would it sell now?
If I sung out of tune would it sell?
The relevance of the question's unclear now
The big picture's as scary as hell.
It's do or die to survive
In this day and age to stay alive.
When the top boys fight
One's left one's right
The streets become a stage
Actor am I?
If I sung out of tune would it sell now?
If I sung out of tune would it sell?
Focus on the small things and then you fail
To see that we're not doing so well.
Am I alone here
Or am I the only one who sees in different tones?
Somehow we've all adhered
To believe in everything that we are shown.
One mans views today makes
Front page news tomorrow
Injecting doubt to talk about.
It'd be no surprise
If this world was designed