An indivisible unit of sound in a given language. A phoneme is an abstraction of the physical speech sounds (phones) and may encompass several different phones
a minimal sound unit of speech that, when contrasted with another phoneme, affects the naming of words in a language (e g , /b/ in book contrasts with /t/ in took, /k/ in cook, /h/ in hook)
The smallest speech sounds that make a difference in the meaning of a word (There are 39-45 phonemes in the English language )
A minimally distinct sound in the context of a particular spoken language For example, in American English, /p/ and /b/ are distinct phonemes because pat and bat are distinct; however, the two different sounds of /t/ in tick and stick are not distinct in English, even though they are distinct in other languages such as Thai
The smallest structural unit of sound in any language that can be used to distinguish one word from another
(1) One of the smallest units of speech (or class of phones) that distinguishes one word from another: e g , p, b, and f in pan, ban, and fan (2) Hearing of imaginary voices
{i} syllable; sound, utterance; smallest units of speech upon which a language is based
The simplest significant unit of sound A phoneme may also have various allophones
- smallest unit of speech sound that can be used to distinguish one meaningful utterance from another in a given language
In linguistics, a set of closely related speech sounds (phones) regarded as a single sound For example, the sound of "r" in red, bring, or round is a phoneme
the smallest phonetic unit in a language that is capable of conveying a distinction in meaning "M", in "man," and "c", in "can," are phonemes See also: morpheme
Elementary sound of a language defined by the properties which differentiate it from the other sounds in the language The word "father" is made up of 4 phonemes "f", "a" "th" and "er"
A phoneme is a member of the set of the smallest units of speech that serve to distinguish one utterance from another in a language or dialect Example: cat vs rat
The smallest unit of sound in spoken language There are 42 distinct phonemes in the English language Phonemes, blended together, make words For example, the word cat consists of three phonemes, /k/ /a/ /t/, which make a single sound when blended, /kat/
Smallest unit of sound in a language that conveys meaning eg , /ph/ and /0/ in phoneme
The basic speech sound unit of a spoken language distinguishable by how it is produced and which is combined with other sound units to create words (Solso)
the smallest sound unit in a word - often represented by a single letter ('a', 'm') but sometimes by a combination of two letters, as in a digraph
[n] The basic units of meaningful spoken sound in a language, by which morphemes, words, and sentences are constructed Languages usually have about 20-60 phonemes, which are different in each language For example, 'p' and 'b' are recognized as different phonemes in the English language because they not only represent different sounds, but also carry different meanings (as in pit versus bit)
The smallest unit of speech that serves to distinguish one utterance from another in a language or dialect, as in the |b| in bat and the |m| in mat English is made up of 44 phonemes
A single distinguishable sound within a particular language; the smallest "unit" of sound For example, in English the words "lost" and "loft" are distinguished by the separate phonemes represented by "s" and "f " There is some correspondence between spelling and phonemes, but they are not identical: one letter can be pronounced in different ways, and the same sound can be represented by different letters or combinations of letters (e g the letter "g" is pronounced in at least 2 different ways (depending on the speaker's dialect) in "get," "anger" and "gentle;" "dear" and "deer" contain identical phonemes but different spelling) Linguists estimate that English has about 45 phonemes
(linguistics) one of a small set of speech sounds that are distinguished by the speakers of a particular language
A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound which is significant in a language. the smallest unit of speech that can be used to make one word different from another word, such as the 'b' and the 'p' in 'big' and 'pig' (phonème, from phonema ). Smallest unit of speech distinguishing one word (or word element) from another (e.g., the sound p in tap, which differentiates that word from tab and tag). The term is usually restricted to vowels and consonants, but some linguists include differences of pitch, stress, and rhythm. A phoneme may have variants, called allophones, that differ phonetically without affecting meaning. Phonemes may be recorded with special symbols, such as those of the International Phonetic Alphabet. In transcription, linguists conventionally place symbols for phonemes between slash marks: /p/
the smallest unit of sound that does not alter the meaning of words in which it occurs
Phonemes are the smallest units of sound that change the meanings of spoken words For example, if you change the first phoneme in bat from /b/ to /p/, the word bat changes to pat English has about 41-44 phonemes A few words, such as a or oh, have only one phoneme Most words have more than one phoneme The word if has two phonemes /i/ and /f/
The smallest phonetic unit in a language that is capable of conveying a distinction in meaning, as the sound m in the English word mat and the b of bat Accordingly, mat and bat are two different morphemes
The speech phonological units that make a difference to meaning Thus, the spoken word rope consists of three phonemes: /r/, /o/, and /p/ It differs by only one phoneme from each of the spoken words, soap, rode, and rip