Phonemes
Definition
Phonemes are the smallest distinctive sound units in speech that can distinguish one word from another.
Analogy
Imagine phonemes as different musical notes on an instrument. Just like changing one note can change an entire melody, changing one phoneme can change the meaning of a word.
Related terms
Allophones: Allophones are variations of a single phoneme. They do not change the meaning of a word, but they may sound slightly different depending on where they appear in a word.
Graphemes: Graphemes are the smallest units in written language that represent phonemes in spelling.
Minimal Pairs: Minimal pairs are two words that differ by only one phoneme (like "bat" and "cat").
"Phonemes" appears in:
Practice Questions (2)
- How does Linguistics' concept of 'phonemes' parallel our understanding of action potentials in neural firing?
- How can one devise an experiment that explores the impact of phonemes on language acquisition in infants?
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