Inrtoduction

[l]
[ɫ]
x▁e	e▁o
x▁i	#▁a
a▁i	x▁ʃ
o▁i	a▁a
e▁i	e▁a
k▁e	i▁s
#▁e	#▁x
	e▁#
	o▁o

These lists contain entries that are composed of one or more words. The first word in the data is [vxleth] "I split," which contains [l] in the environment x e, i.e., it appears between [x] and [e]. As a result, we insert x e in the column under [l]. We enter x I in the same column since the second word in the data, [tetxli] "fire," contains [l] in the surrounding environment.
By entering each area where we find each of the relevant phones, we proceed in this manner, word by word. Be aware that we enter all pertinent surroundings if a term has numerous occurrences of any of the phones of interest. This is evident in the word "goal," [leo], which has the environment # e for], so both of those get entered into their respective lists.
Step 3: Determine overlap in environments
First, we need to confirm that there is no evident contrastive distribution of the phones. There is a considerable likelihood that two phones are allophones of different phonemes if they share some surroundings exactly. Instead, consider if we have created lists for English [p] and [k]. Due to words like pit, kit, spoon, and school, we might eventually have entries like # and s for both of them. Then, we would probably come to the conclusion that the phones are contrastive and should be studied as allophones of different phonemes. Then we could end our examination of those phones!
But since there doesn't seem to be any overlap with Georgian, we must continue. Even if there is no environment overlap in the data we have here, we might still conclude that [l] and [] are all allophones of different phonemes.
Step 4: Make the environments simpler.
Many of the same symbols—[x], [a], [e], [o], and #—can be found on the left side of the surroundings for both phones. With no evident natural classifications in the left surroundings of one phone vs the other, there is not a lot of consistency on the left side. The right environment, it appears, may be essential for uncovering complementary distribution since on the right side of these phones, we find some repetition of phones and some natural classes within each phone's list rather than between the two lists. Thus, by eliminating the left environment, we can streamline our study. By excluding the left environment and eliminating any duplicate entries, we may rewrite the lists and obtain the following, which is considerably easier.