Other Definitions
complementary distribution (dict)
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Complementary DistributionComplementary distribution in linguistics refers to the relationship between two elements where one element can be found only in a particular environment and the other element can be found only in the opposite environment. It often indicates that two superficially different elements are in fact the same at a deeper level. Complementary distribution is commonly applied to phonology, where similar phones in complementary distribution are usually allophones of each other. For instance, in English, and are allophones of the phoneme because they occur in complementary distribution. always occurs when it is the syllable onset and followed by a stressed vowel (i.e. in the word ''pin). occurs in all other situations (i.e. in the word spin''). There are cases where elements are in complementary distribution, but are not considered allophones. For example in English h and (engma, written as "ng" in English) are in complementary distribution, since h only occurs at the beginning of a syllable and only at the end. But because they have so little in common they are still considered separate phonemes.
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