Hey dr_linguista,
propably this might help you somehow....
Phoneme:
A Phoneme is an abstract unit because you don't see it or hear it in daily speech.
But it can be represented as you will see...
A
Phoneme is the
smallest distinctive sound unit, that one usually discovers with the
minimal pair analysis:
e.g.:
/
cat/ - /
pat/
/p
it/ - /p
ut/
/
pit/ - /
sit/
The total amount of a speakers possible sounds is represented by its different phones (e.g. /s/; /p/; /i/; /.../).
A phone can sometimes be realised in a different way.
That is what we call an
ALLOPHONE (or allophonic variation):Allophones occur in complementary distribution. There are some constraints that say when to use which allophone!Allophones can be predicted with respect to the phonological "region" they occur in.They are redundant features -they do not change the meaning of a word. But they sound curious when they are used in the wrong place.
e.g.:PHONEME /p/
ALLOPHONES /p/------------/p/
+aspiration -aspiration
(usually you use "diacritics" to sign aspiration or other features)
I don't know what suprasegmental domain means, but i guess that it has to do with morphology and syntax....but i do not knowSorry
