noun a unit of sound in a language that distinguishes one word from another, such as /p/ in 'pat' and /b/ in 'bat'
In linguistics, a phoneme is a unit of sound that distinguishes one word from another in a particular language.
In the study of language acquisition, phonemes play a crucial role in understanding how children learn to produce and distinguish sounds in their native language.
In speech therapy, phonemes are taught and practiced to improve speech articulation and clarity.
In psycholinguistics, phonemes are studied in relation to how they are processed in the brain during language production and comprehension.
Writers may use the concept of phonemes when creating dialogue for characters in a story to accurately reflect different accents or speech patterns.
Psychologists studying language development in children may use phonemes to assess a child's ability to distinguish between different sounds in speech.
Speech therapists use phonemes to diagnose and treat speech sound disorders, helping individuals improve their pronunciation and communication skills.
Linguists analyze phonemes to study the phonological systems of different languages and how sounds are used to convey meaning.