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”
Cross-References
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References and Readings
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.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
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
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_908
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57110-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57111-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences