Definition
Phoneme is the smallest speech-sound unit that affects or differentiates meaning in a given language. Sounds examined as part of the language system are phonemes.
A phoneme is recognized as distinct from other sounds. When a phoneme is contrasted with another phoneme, the difference can be distinguished as a different word.
Examples
The following illustrates how changing a single phoneme affects word meaning: /k/ cook, /h/ hook, /b/ book, /t/ took. A single phoneme may correspond to one or more graphemes (written letters), as in “true” and “through, ” which differ only in the substitution of the phoneme /θ/for the phoneme “t. ” Another example is the phoneme /t/ distinguishes between “me” and “meat”
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Bernthal, J. E., Bankson, N. W., & Flipsen, P. (Eds.). (1998). Articulation and phonological disorders, speech sound disorders in children (7th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Ziegler, W., & Deger, K. (1998). Clinical phonetics and linguistics. London: Whurr.
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Nessler, C., Sotto, C. (2018). Phoneme. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_908
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