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to show that speakers of the language perceive two sounds as significantly different even if no exact minimal pair exists in the lexicon. It is challenging to find a minimal pair to distinguish English from , yet it seems uncontroversial to claim that the two consonants are distinct phonemes. The two words pressure and pleasure can serve as a near minimal pair. The reason why this is still acceptable proof of phonemehood is that there is nothing about the additional difference ( vs. ) that can be expected to somehow condition a voicing difference

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