# minimal pair



## Tjahzi

In phonology, the term _minimal pair_ is used to denote a pair of words which are separated by a single sound. These pairs are then used as "proof" for that the sounds in question are phonemic (are distinguishable and carry a meaning). As such, the English pair _then _and _den _shows that [d] and [ð] are different phonemes in English, which is not the case in all languages, I'm sure you have noticed.  Additionally, _ten_ can be added to show that [t], too, is a different sound (thus creating a "minimal trio").

Anyhow, as a minor hobby project, I've been investigating Swedish minimal pairs and come up with a VERY productive stem. Nearly every consonant can be added before the sequence _-år_ [oːr] (meaning _year _on its own) to create a new word (Swedish has no diphthongs and hence vowels can't be added). This is helped a lot by the fact that _-r_ is both the suffix indicating present tense for verbs (Swedish verbs are not inflected for person) as well as the plural suffix for the utrum (masculine+feminine) gender of nouns, but the list includes other words as well.

_År - _year (singular and plural).
_Bår _- stretcher (singular).
("C" is not a native phoneme and only appears in the -ck- cluster, names and loan words.)
_Dår-_ - does not exist independently, but as a root in words such as _dåraktig _(mad)_, dåre _(madman) and _dårskap _(madness).
_Får _- sheep (singular and plural) and also the present tense of _få_ - to get, receive.
_Går _- present tense of _gå_ - to go.
_Hår _- hair.
_Jår _- *No match.*
_Kår _- corps (singular).
_Lår _- thigh (singular and plural).
_Mår _- present tense of _må_ - feel (in regards to health/well-being).
_Når _- present tense of _nå - _reach.
_Pår _- *No match.*
("Q" is not a native phoneme and only appears in names and loan words.)
_Rår _- present tense of _råda_ - to advice.
_Sår _- wound/sore (singular and plural) and also present tense of _så_ - to sow.
_Tår _- plural of _tå_ - toe.
_Vår _- our(s) and also spring (singular).
_("W" is not a native phoneme and only appears in names and loan words.)_
_("X" is not a native phoneme and only appears in names and loan words.)_
_("Y" is a vowel.)
("Z" is not a native phoneme and only appears in names and loan words.)_

(Swedish has two additional consonant phonemes that are written with various di- and trigraphs, but these have emerged through assimilation before front vowels (to which _å_/[o] does not belong).)
(Swedish nouns of the neutral gender do not take a plural suffix, hence some of the words in the list are indeed both the singular and plural forms of their English translations.)


I've attempted to make similar lists in English, but haven't got anywhere near a similar result. Which is the "biggest minimal pair" you can find? In English, or in some other language? Please share!


----------



## Rallino

In English the best I could come up with is:_

In - _inside_
Chin - _the protruding part of the face below the mouth
_Fin - _a flattened appendage on the body of a fish or other aquatic animal
_Gin - _ a clear alcoholic spirit distilled from grain or malt and flavoured with juniper berries. _
Hin - _a Hebrew unit of liquid capacity equal to approximately 5 litres_
Kin - _one's family and relations. _ 
Pin - _a thin piece of metal with a sharp point at one end and a round head at the other
_Sin - _an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law. 
_Shin - _the front of the leg below the knee.
_Tin - _a silvery-white metal
_Thin - _ having little flesh or fat on the body. 
_Win - _ To be victorious
_Yin - _(in Chinese philosophy) the passive female principle of the universe


----------



## Tjahzi

Wow, not bad! You can add _bin_ and _din _to that list as well. However, I'm not sure if _hin_ and _yin_ count. 

What about Turkish?


----------



## Rallino

In Turkish it's really easy, I chose the word "an", and made a list. A similar even longer list can be made starting with other words.
_
An - _moment
_Can - _life/health_
Çan - _Bell_
Han - _Dynasty_
Kan -_ Blood_
Lan - _Colloquial vocative_
Nan - _Bread_
San - _Title (of a person)_
Şan - _Fame_
Tan - _Dawn_
Van - _A city in Turkey_
Yan - _Side_
Zan -_ Theory

(We don't have diphtongues or digraphs in Turkish.)


----------



## AutumnOwl

Tjahzi said:


> Anyhow, as a minor hobby project, I've been investigating Swedish minimal pairs and come up with a VERY productive stem. Nearly every consonant can be added before the sequence _-år_ [oːr] (meaning _year _on its own) to create a new word (Swedish has no diphthongs and hence vowels can't be added). This is helped a lot by the fact that _-r_ is both the suffix indicating present tense for verbs (Swedish verbs are not inflected for person) as well as the plural suffix for the utrum (masculine+feminine) gender of nouns, but the list includes other words as well.


You can make almost as many words in Swedish with the minimal pair _-al_, and that without using the present tense of verbs.


----------



## bibax

Czech (infinitives):

bíti (to beat), býti (to be)
číti (to sense, _mostly_ to hear)
díti (to say)
jíti (to go)
líti (to pour)
míti (to have), mýti (to wash)
nýti (_poet._ to languish by grief/sadness)
píti (to drink)
rýti (to spade)
říti (to rut)
síti (to sow)
šíti (to sew)
títi (to cut, to chop)
týti (to get fat)
víti (to plait), výti (to howl)
žíti (to live)

Note: nowadays the wovels i and y are pronounced mostly the same way (the orthography i/y is historical, a nightmare for the schoolchildren).


----------



## ThomasK

I can't find one in Dutch where so many combinations are possible, but before going on: can you draw conclusions from that ? There are a lot of words ending in -_ak _in Dutch (aak, bak, dak, jak (...), kak, mak, pak, tak, wak, yak, zak), but... is that enough? Could it prove useful in some didactic way, do you think?


----------



## TitTornade

In French, you can do this with several vowel sounds, but, in French, they are several mute letters or several letter combinations that are said in the same way, so it is not easy to recognize the similarities...

 Let's try with the sound *o* (pronunciation - words with this pronunciation (English translation)):
*o* - eau (water), au (at the, singular), aux (at the, plural), haut (high)...
*bo* - beau (beautiful, singular), beaux (plural), baux, Baux...
*sho* (*sh* = English pronunciation) - chaud (hot), chaux (limestone), show...
*ko* - Caux (French region)
*do* - dos (back), do (musical note)
*fo* - faux (false)...
*go* - ?
*lo *- lot (prize, jackpot)...
*mo* - mot (word), maux (aches)
*no* - No (japanese theater)
*po* - pot (pot, jar), peau (skin), Pau (French city)...
*ro* - rot (burp), rôt (roast)
*so* - seau (bucket), sot (stupid), sceau (seal)...
*to *- taux (ratio)...
*vo* - veau (veal), vos (your)...
*zo* - zoo (zoo)

I can do the same with sounds *a*, *i*, *u*... and nasal sounds *a~*, *e~* or *o~*.You can notice that there are many homophones in French


----------



## Outsider

There may well be larger minimal sequences, but just for fun here's the first one I thought of in Portuguese (13 words):

cá - here
dá - gives
fá - F, the musical note
iá - yeah (colloquial; the "i" stands for an approximant/semivowel here)
já - already, now
lá - there, over there
má - bad (feminine adjective)
pá - shovel
Rá - Ra/Re, the Egyptian god
Sá - a Portuguese family name
tá - is (a colloquial contraction of "está")
vá - go
xá - shah / chá - tea (different words and spelling, but same pronunciation)

In addition there are the words _á_, _à_ and _há_ (all pronounced the same way), but since these do not start with a consonant (the "h" is silent), I didn't think I should include them.

Then there are of course the names of the letters of the alphabet:

bê, cê, dê, gê/guê, pê, quê, tê, vê, zê (9 words)

(Though in some dialects "b" and "v" are pronounced the same, this is fairly restricted.) And some teachers also use the following, although they are not standard:

be, de, fe, gue, je, le, me, ne, pe, que, re, te, ve, xe, ze (15. I'm not sure how they deal with the letters "c" and "s", since we pronounce them the same way before "e"...)


----------



## Maroseika

Russian:

бок [bok] - side, flang
ВОК [vok] - optical-fiber cable
ГОК [gok] -  ore-dressing plant
док [dok] - dock
жок [zhok] - jос (Moldavian dance)
кок  [kok] - cock
МОК - [mok] - International Olympic Committee
нок  [nok] - nock (part of rigging)
рок  [rok] - fate 
сок  [sok] - juice 
ток  [tok] - flowing, current
фок  [fok] - foresail
цок  [tsok] - clank sound
шок  [shok] - shock
чок  [chok] - clink (glasses) sound


----------



## Outsider

Here are three minimal sequences for vowels in Portuguese: 

a - the (fem.); her; at; to
à/há/á (all three pronounced the same way) - to the/ there is/ name of the letter "a"
hã - huh (interrogative interjection)
e/i (pronounced the same way) - and/ name of the letter "i"
é - is; name of the letter "e"
o - the (masc.); him
ó - o (vocative); name of the letter "o"
ou (some speakers pronounce this as a diphthong) - or
u - name of the letter "u"
um (nasal vowel) - a, one

da - of the (fem.)
dá - gives
de - of, from
dê - give; name of the letter "d"
do - of the (masc.)
dó - musical note C
dou (a diphthong for some speakers) - I give
dom (nasal vowel) - don; gift
dum (nasal vowel) - of a, of one

Sá - family name
sã - sane
se (homophonous with "se" in Brazil) - if; self
sé - [episcopal] see
sê - be
si - himself, herself, itself
sim (nasal vowel) - yes
só - alone
sou (a diphthong for some speakers) - I am
som (nasal vowel) - sound

P.S. More examples in French with audio.


----------



## TarisWerewolf

The one I think of in English is S-T:

sat - past tense of "to sit"
sate - to satisfy
sought - past tense of "to seek"
set - a collection (among other meanings)
seat - a place to sit
sit - to avail oneself of a "seat"
sight/site - something seen or a location
soot - ashes from a fire
suit - fancy clothes


----------



## apmoy70

The only one I could think of in Greek:

«τε» (tĕ): In the ancient language, enclitic particle "and"
«ἅτε» ('hātĕ): In the ancient language, accusative plural neuter of pronoun «ὅστε» ('hŏstĕ)--> _just as, as if, so as_
«βάτε» ('vate, 'bātĕ): Ancient/Modern Greek, vocative sing. feminine of noun «βάτος» ('vatos, 'bātŏs)--> _bramble_
«γάτε» ('ɣate): Modern Greek, vocative sing. masculine of noun «γάτος» ('ɣatos)--> _tomcat_
«ὅτε» ('hŏtĕ): Ancient Greek, relative adverb of time--> _when, at the time when_
«πότε» ('pote, 'pŏtĕ): Ancient/Modern Greek, interrogative adverb--> _when? at what time?_
«ὁπότε» (o'pote, hŏ'pŏtĕ): Ancient/Modern Greek, correlative adverb--> _whenever, when_
«τότε» ('tote, 'tŏtĕ): Ancient/Modern Greek, demonstrative adverb--> _at times, now and then, at one time_
«ὥστε» ('oste, 'hōstĕ): Ancient/Modern Greek, demonstrative adverb--> _so as, inasmuch, for to_


----------



## AutumnOwl

TarisWerewolf said:


> The one I think of in English is S-T


I think it's -at:
at
bat
cat
(dat) abbreviation
eat
fat
gat
hat
jat
lat
mat
(nat) abbreviation
oat
pat
rat
sat
tat
vat
wat


----------



## Outsider

"Eat" and "oat" don't rhyme with the other words.


----------



## bibax

You can add *chat*, *shat* and _*that*_.

I didn't know about _shat_ (e.g. _after I got off of the roller coaster, I realized that I shat myself_), it is usually not included in the list of the irregular (strong) English verbs.


----------



## rusita preciosa

AutumnOwl said:


> I think it's -at:
> at
> bat
> cat
> (dat) abbreviation
> eat
> fat
> gat
> hat
> jat
> lat
> mat
> (nat) abbreviation
> oat
> pat
> rat
> sat
> tat
> vat
> wat


Can you explain these? I do not know half of these words...


----------



## AutumnOwl

Outsider said:


> "Eat" and "oat" don't rhyme with the other words.


As far as I can see the original poster didn't request that the words should rhyme, just asked how many words could be made with the same minimal pair of letters.


----------



## AutumnOwl

rusita preciosa said:


> Can you explain these? I do not know half of these words...


You can look up the words you are unfamiliar with here: http://www.wordreference.com/definition/


----------



## bibax

> As far as I can see the original poster didn't request that the words should rhyme, just asked how many words could be made with the same minimal pair of letters.


No, in phonology the term _'minimal pair'_ is a matter of pronuntiation, not orthography. Therefore you can add _chat/shat/that_.


----------



## Arath

In Bulgarian the biggest minimal pair of the six vowels is:

*тапа* - stopper, cork
*тъпа* - stupid (feminine of *тъп*)
*топа* - the cannon (definite of *топ*)
*тупа*- he/she/it beats (third person singular of *тупам*)
*тепа* - he/she/it fulls (third person singular of *тепам*), here to full means to make cloth denserhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/denser and firmerhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/firmer by soakinghttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/soaking, beatinghttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beating and pressinghttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pressing,
*типа* - as in *два типа* (two typeshttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/waulk)


----------



## rusita preciosa

AutumnOwl said:


> You can look up the words you are unfamiliar with here: http://www.wordreference.com/definition/


Thank you. What a useful link! Have a nice jat.


----------



## elroy

Standard Arabic:

I've found one that works with 26 of the 28 consonant phonemes.  Pretty amazing! 

/ʔ/ أَنَّ /ʔanna/ = that 
/b/ بَنَّ /banna/ = he dwelled
/t/
/θ/ ثَنَّى /θanna/ = he doubled
/ʒ/ جَنَّ /ʒanna/ = it became dark 
/ħ/ حَنَّ /ħanna/ = he pined
/x/ خَنَّ /xanna/ = he snorted
/d/ دَنَّ /danna/ = he murmured
/ð/ دَنَّ /ðanna/ = it grew severe
/r/ رَنَّ /ranna/ = he rang
/z/ زَنَّ /zanna/ = it dried up
/s/ سَنَّ /sanna/ = he passed (a law)
/ʃ/ شَنَّ /ʃanna/ = he waged (an attack)
/sˤ/ صَنَّ /sˤanna/ = it became foul-smelling
/dˤ/ ضَنَّ /dˤanna/ = he was stingy
/tˤ/ طَنَّ /tˤanna/ = he buzzed
/ðˤ/ ظَنَّ /ðˤanna/ = he thought
/ʕ/ عَنَّ /ʕanna/ = it seemed
/ɣ/ غَنَّ /ɣanna/ = he spoke through his nose 
/f/ فَنَّ /fanna/ = he was artistic
/q/ قَنَّ /qanna/ = he visually inspected
/k/ كَنَّ /kanna/ = he quieted down
/l/
/m/ مَنَّ /manna/ = he was generous 
/n/ نَنَّ /nanna/ = thin hair (accusative, construct)
/h/ هَنَّ /hanna/ = he cried
/w/ وَنَّ /wanna/ = weakness (accusative, construct)
/j/ يَنَّ /janna/ = yen (accusative, construct)


----------



## AndrasBP

Hungarian:

bár /ba:r/ - although
cár /t͡sa:r/ - czar
gyár /ɟa:r/ - factory
jár /ja:r/ - he/she goes
kár /ka:r/ - damage
már /ma:r/ - already
nyár /ɲa:r/ - summer
pár /pa:r/ - pair, couple
sár /ʃa:r/ - mud
szár /sa:r/ - stalk (of a plant)
tár /ta:r/ - storehouse
vár /va:r/ - castle
zár /za:r/ - lock (noun or 3rd person singular verb)


----------



## Welsh_Sion

*Cymraeg/Welsh*

*1st attempt

Da /da:/ 'good'
De /de:/ 'South'
Di /di:/ 'thy' (2nd pers. sing. echoing pronoun)
Do /do:/ 'yes' (in the Preterite) 
Du /di:/ 'black'
Dw /du:/ 'Am'
Dy /də/ 'thy' (2nd pers. sing. pronoun)
Dŷ /di:/ 'house' (+ Soft Mutation)
Dai /dai/ 'David'
Dau /dai/ '2 (masc.)'
Daw /daʊ/ 'he will come' (3rd pers. sing. Present-Future)
Dei /dəi/ 'David'
Deu /dəi/ '2' (masc., older form, still seen in older forms of numbers such as *deuddeg*, '12' (2 + 10)
Dew /dəʊ/ 'fat' (adj.) (+ Soft Mutation)
Doe /dᴐi/ 'yesterday'
Doi /dᴐi/ 'you will come' (2nd. pers. sing. Present-Future)
Dôi /do:i/ 'she used to come' (3rd. pers. sing. Imperfect)
Dou /dᴐi/ '2' (South Wales dialectical form of the masc. cardinal number)
Dow /dᴐʊ/ 'the action of towing'
Duw /diʊ/ 'God, god'
Dwy /dʊi/ '2' (fem.)*

Other definitions possible for some of the above.


----------



## Awwal12

Maroseika said:


> Russian


You didn't actually include any minimal pairs for palatalized consonants (as you should have, because we're dealing with phonemes, not letters here), but did include abbreviations, which is a little bit unfair, I suppose. Without those (and with palatalized consonants), it would be only 15, it seems. /-or/ is definitely better.

Russian:
ор /or/ - shouting (derogatory)
бор /bor/ - pine forest; boron
вор /vor/ - thief
гор /gor/ - of mountains
жор /ʐor/ - eating frenzy (colloquial)
лор /lor/ - lore (of some franchise; slangish)
мор /mor/ - plague
мёр /mʲor/ - was dying in numbers (imperf.pret.sg.masc.)
нор /nor/ - of holes (in the earth)
пор /por/ - of pores
пёр /pʲor/ - moved stubbornly or without putting attention to anything (mostly derogatory)
сор /sor/ - small rubbish
тор /tor/ - torus
тёр /tʲor/ - rubbed (imperf.pret.sg.masc.)
фор /for/ - of head starts
хор /xor/ - choir
шор /ʂor/ - of blinkers

(/-il/ could provide more pairs, but I consider it cheating, since the phonemic status of /i/ after hard consonants isn't precisely defined, and if we count /ɨ/ as a separate phoneme, the number of minimal pairs will be almost halved.)


----------



## Yendred

AndrasBP said:


> Hungarian:
> 
> bár /ba:r/ - although
> cár /t͡sa:r/ - czar
> gyár /ɟa:r/ - factory
> jár /ja:r/ - he/she goes
> kár /ka:r/ - damage
> már /ma:r/ - already
> nyár /ɲa:r/ - summer
> pár /pa:r/ - pair, couple
> sár /ʃa:r/ - mud
> szár /sa:r/ - stalk (of a plant)
> tár /ta:r/ - storehouse
> vár /va:r/ - castle
> zár /za:r/ - lock (noun or 3rd person singular verb)


Let me try these with French:

_bar _/baʁ/ - bass (fish), bar (place where you can buy and drink)
_car _/kaʁ/ - coach/bus, because; also _quart _(quarter)
_char _/ʃaʁ/ - cart, tank (military)
_dard _/daʁ/ - sting (of a bee)
_far /faʁ/ - _Breton cake; also _fard (_blusher_), phare (_lighthouse, headlight)
_gare _/gaʁ/ - (railway) station
_jarre _/ʒaʁ/ - jar
_lard _/laʁ/ - fat, streaky bacon
_mare _/maʁ/ - pond
_narre _/naʁ/ - (I/he/she) narrate(s)
_part _/paʁ/ - part, portion, (I/he/she) leave(s); also _pare _(I/he/she adorn(s))
_rare _/ʁaʁ/ - rare
_sar _/saʁ/ - sargo fish, white seabream
_tare _/taʁ/ - tare weight, defect
_Var _/vaʁ/ - French river & French department
_zar _/zaʁ/ - demon or spirit assumed to possess individuals in Middle East cultures (borrowed from Arabic)


----------



## Welsh_Sion

Far be it from me to correct a Frenchman, but how about:

*Barre/barre, Gard, gars, marre, tsar**

as well?



(* Ok, I cheated here - but I'm sure you'd allow me to play it in French _Scrabble™_!)


----------



## Rallino

Isn't the rs in gars silent?


----------



## Yendred

Welsh_Sion said:


> Barre/barre, Gard, gars, marre, tsar*


Yes, these could be in my list (which didn't claim to be exhaustive), except _gars _/ga/_, _as indicated by @Rallino.


----------



## elroy

I don't think it's important to include homonyms/homophones.  My Arabic list is far from exhaustive in that sense.  I just chose one spelling and one meaning for each example.


----------



## Terio

Another one in French :

pou (louse)
bout (tip) boue (mud), bous / bout (forms of bouillir : to boil)
tout (all), toux (cough)
doux (soft)
cou (neck)
goût (taste)
fou (crazy)
vous (you), voue / voues / voient (forms of vouer : to vow)
sou (penny), soue (pigsted)
zoo (zoo) (in Canada only, the "good" pr. is [zoo])
chou (cabbage)
joue (cheek, play)
mou (soft), moue (pout)
nous (we), noue / noues / nouent (forms of nouer, to tie)
gnou (gnu, wildebeast) (generally pronounced [gnu] but [ɲu] also exists)
loue / loues / louent forms of louer (to rent) and of louer (to praise)
roue (wheel), roux (red), roue / roues / rouent (forms of rouer : beat up)

The seventeen consonants with the vowel


----------



## Yendred

Terio said:


> zoo (zoo) (in Canada only, the "good" pr. is [zoo])


You could have cited the interjection _zou !_ (whoosh!, let's go!)
Is it used in Québec?


----------



## Terio

Yendred said:


> You could have cited the interjection _zou !_ (whoosh!, let's go!)
> Is it used in Québec?



Not really.


----------



## Henares

There is one quite funny minimal pair in Polish - “ś/si” and “sz”. English speakrs I work with pronunce the name “Kasia” (a diminutive of Katarzyna, equivalent to Catherine) as “ˈkɑːʃə”, so it sounds as “kasza” (groans, kasha)


----------



## Penyafort

In Catalan:

*bet* = either the short form for _Elisabet_ or the name of a Hebrew or Aramaic letter
*det* = old or dialectal for _dit_ 'finger'
*et* = you (2nd sg, object pronoun before verbs)
*fet* = done (past participle) or fact (noun)
*get* = old or dialectal variant of _git_ 'throw, shot'
*het* = name of a Hebrew or Aramic letter
*jet* = jet plane
*llet* = milk
*met* = either the short form for _Jaumet_ 'little James' or in the idiom _fer el met _'play the dumb'
*net* = clean
*pet* = fart
*quet* = old or dialectal form for _quiet_ 'quiet, still'
*ret* = net
*set* = thirst
*tet* = dialectal form for 'ceiling'
*vet* = veto
*xet* = dialectal form for _xai_ 'little lamb'


----------



## merquiades

French one-syllable words ending in /o/

*au/ aux*    (to the),  *aulx*  (garlic heads)
*beau* (beautiful) (m)
*chaud* (hot) (m),  *chaux* (whitewash) (f)
*clôt* (enclosure) (m)
*croc *(fang) (m)
*dos* (back) (m)
*faux* (false) (m),  *faut* (it is necessary)
*flot*  (swell) (m)
*go * (go - Japanese game)  (m)
*gros *(fat) (m)
*ho *(oh!)
*Jo*  (name short for José(e) or maybe Joséphine)
*l'eau* (water) (f), *lot *(package) (m)
*mot* (word) (m),  *maux* (pains or aches) (mp)
*nos* (our) plural
*peau *(skin) (f), *pot* (drink) (m)
*pro* (professional)
*quo* (where - Latinism)
*rot* (belch) (m)
*sot* (idiot) (m),  *seau* (bucket) (m), *sceau* (stamp) (m),  *saut *(jump) (m)
*tôt* (early),  *taux *(rate)
*trop* (too much)
*vos* (your) (plural), *veau* (veal) (m), *vaux* (valleys) (mp), * vaut* (it is worth)
*zoo *(zoo) (m)

24 minimal pair possibilities with /o/


----------



## merquiades

French one-syllable words ending in /ɑ̃/

*an *(year), *en *(in) (some)
*banc* (bench) (m)
*blanc* (white) (m)
*Caen *(city in Normandy), *quand *(when)
*champ* (field) (m)
*clan* (clan) (m)
*cran *(notch) (m)
*dans* (in)
*faon* (fawn) (m),
*flan*  (custard) (m)
*franc* (frank) (m)
*gants * (gloves)  (m)                                                                                                          
*gland*  (acorn) (m)
*grand *(big) (m)
*Jean*  (John)
*Laon* (city in France), *lent *(slow)
*ment* (he lies) (m),
*paon *(peacock) (n), *pan* (section) (m)
*prend* (take)
*plan *(plan)
*rang* (row) (m)
*sang* (blood) (m),  *cent* (hundred) (m),  *sent* (feels, smells)
*tant* (so),  *temps *(time), *taon *(housefly)
*vent* (wind) (m), *vend *(he sells)
*vlan *(wham)


25 minimal pair possibilities with /ɑ̃/


----------



## Awwal12

But @merquiades , minimal pairs are, by definition, words that have one and only one phoneme different (hence "minimal"). That may include zeros, but again, there may be only one zero involved (/∅on/ - /von/ - /son/, etc.).

They don't specifically need to be monosyllabic - it's just that the largest number of mutual minimal pairs tends to be monosyllabic.


----------



## Penyafort

Spanish:

*han *(they have)
*man* (hand, _dated_)
*pan *(bread)
*tan *(as/so)
*chan *(chia seed)
*can* (dog)
*van *(they go)
*dan* (they give)
*fan* (fan)
*san* (Saint)
*jan* (dibble, _dial_.)


*ea *(come on!)
*mea *(that he/she pisses) (piss!)
*nea *(_neocatólica_, woman in favour of the 19th-century neo-Catholic traditionalist movement)
*pea *(that he/she farts) (binge, _col. dial._)
*tea *(torch)
*vea *(that he/she sees) (may you Sir/Madam see)
*dea *(goddess)
*fea *(ugly _female_)
*cea *(hipbone)
*sea *(so be it!) (that he/she is)
*gea *(Gaia)
*lea *(that he/she reads) (may you Sir/Madam read)
*rea *(_female_ defendant)
*wea* (bullshit,_ col. dial._)


----------



## merquiades

*Cabra
Caca
Cacha
Cada
Caga
Caja
Cala
Calla
Cama
Cana
Caña
Capa
Cara
Casa
Cata
Cava
Caya
Caza*
18 Spanish pairs



Awwal12 said:


> But @merquiades , minimal pairs are, by definition, words that have one and only one phoneme different (hence "minimal"). That may include zeros, but again, there may be only one zero involved (/∅on/ - /von/ - /son/, etc.).
> 
> They don't specifically need to be monosyllabic - it's just that the largest number of mutual minimal pairs tends to be monosyllabic.


So you don't want to count clusters as phonemes: br,bl,gr,gl,pr,pl,ch,sh,th


----------



## Awwal12

merquiades said:


> So you don't want to count clusters as phonemes br,bl,gr,gl,ch,sh


Clusters of what exactly? Clusters of letters well may represent a single phoneme (e.g. Eng 'sh' /ʃ/ or Rus. 'ть' /tʲ/), but it's a purely orthographic issue. Clusters of sounds normally aren't phonemes by definition, as phonemes are the language's elementary segments. Some sequences of more basic phonetic elements may form the type of phonemes known as affricates (like Russian or German /ʦ/), but their validity in the language's description must be always confirmed (basically that should be the most simple description for one reason or another).


----------

