Allophone

An allophone is a variation of a single phoneme, which is the smallest unit of sound in a language. These variations occur naturally based on different contexts or positions in words, and they do not change the meaning of a word. For example, the "p" sound in "pat" and "spat" are slightly different articulations but are considered the same phoneme because they don't alter the word's meaning. Allophones are subtle differences in pronunciation that are understood within a language's sound system, allowing speakers to produce natural speech without misunderstanding.