Phoneme

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish one word from another. For example, the sounds /p/ and /b/ in "pat" and "bat" change the meaning of the words. Phonemes are not letters themselves but sounds associated with letters or letter combinations. Different languages use different sets of phonemes. Understanding phonemes helps us analyze how words are spoken and how sounds work together to form meaningful language. They are fundamental in studying pronunciation, accents, and language learning.