complementary distribution

noun

complementary distribution

noun
1

Human sciences, Linguistics, Phonetics, Phonology, Sciences The distribution of phones in their respective phonetic environments such that one never appears in the same phonetic context as the other.

Antonyms
contrastive distribution, free variation
Related terms
allophone

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.