Allophone
A variant pronunciation of a phoneme that does not change meaning. Allophones are context-dependent and occur in complementary distribution. For instance, the /p/ in 'pin' (aspirated) differs from the /p/ in 'spin' (unaspirated).
Real World
The 't' in 'butter' is pronounced with a clear plosive in RP but as a glottal stop [ʔ] in Cockney English — both are allophones of /t/ that no native speaker confuses for a different word.
Exam Focus
Use square brackets for allophones [pʰ] and slashes for phonemes /p/ — correct notation signals phonological understanding to examiners.
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