A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish words and convey meaning. It is a basic building block of spoken language, representing distinctive sounds that can differentiate one word from another.
Phonemes can vary across languages and may include consonants, vowels, and combinations of these sounds.
The study of phonemes is essential in phonology, a branch of linguistics that explores the sound patterns and systems in languages. Understanding phonemes is crucial for analyzing speech sounds and language development.
