This document distinguishes between phones and phonemes. Phones are individual speech sounds, while phonemes are the smallest units that distinguish meaning. Phonemes have allophones and are represented with the International Phonetic Alphabet between slashes. Minimal pairs, which differ by one phoneme like "pat" and "bat", are used to determine if a sound is a phoneme in a given language.

1. Phones vs phonemes

2. Phones
Are segments of the Word
Phone is a speech sound which is represented
with phonetic symbols.
It may refered to any speech sound or gesture
withouth regard of its place in phonology of a
language.

3. Phonemes
Is the smallest structural unit that
distinguishes meaning in language.
Set of phones or a set of sounds features
Group of sounds (which speakers usually
think as a one sound)
Have several allophones

4. Phonemes are the basic sounds.
Are based on spoken language and recorded
by IPA International Phonetic Alphabet
Are written between slashes.

5. We use the method of building MINIMAL PAIRS
to discover whether a sound is a significant one
or not. So that we can say that in English p and
b are phonemes, because they make a
distinction for instance between the minimal
pairs 'pat' and 'bat'.