diaphone

[ dahy-uh-fohn ]

noun

1. a foghorn producing a low-pitched, penetrating signal of two tones.
2. Phonetics.
   1. a phoneme in one dialect corresponding to a similar but phonetically different phoneme in a related dialect.
   2. a group of sounds comprising all the phonetically different dialectal variants of a given phoneme in a language:

      The broad a and flat a of “half” are members of a single diaphone.

diaphone

/ ˈdaɪəˌfəʊn /

noun

1. 1. the set of all realizations of a given phoneme in a language
   2. one of any number of corresponding sounds in different dialects of a language
2. a foghorn that emits a two-toned signal

Word History and Origins

Origin of diaphone¹

First recorded in 1905–10; dia- + -phone

Word History and Origins

Origin of diaphone¹

C20: from dia ( lect ) + phone ²

Example Sentences

In the Pedal department no reed or flue pipe can begin to compare with a Diaphone, either in attack or in volume of tone.

From Project Gutenberg

The 32-foot open diaphone is located behind the picture screen.

From Project Gutenberg