Today Patricia and Teresa talk about near-homonyms.

Terms used in today’s episode:

Minimal pairs: Minimal pairs are two words that are nearly identical. There is only one aspect of their pronunciation that is different. (Spelling isn’t always a good indicator of the differences between the two words.)

Click here for the full list!

Idiolect: A term used in this episode that might be new to you is idiolect. An idiolect is the language or speech habits/patterns of one person. It is not shared with other people. In this episode we learned about Teresa’s idiolect. For her the words pin and pen are pronounced the same way. She does try to say them differently for other people but not always successfully- as in this episode!

Just as a note, she didn’t get upset when it happened. She knows that this is something she does and while it’s been a source of confusion for her listeners her whole life, it is something she knows about and can talk to people about when she is unable to successfully say them differently. Knowing something is hard for you is half the battle!

This episode was recorded on September 8, 2020.