| phoneme |
| Definition: The smallest unit of meaningful sound. In contrast, the phone is the smallest identifiable unit of sound (thus a phoneme could be represented by multiple phones). Note: By convention, phonemes are displayed between slashes (e.g., /b/, /j/, and/o/), whereas phones are bracketed ( [b], [j], and [o]). |
| Example: In the words lap and lab the /p/ and /b/ are phonemes. However, in the words lap and plug, though the two p's represent different sounds and are, thus, represented by two different phones, they both are still represented by the same phoneme. |
| Etymology: The word phoneme derives from the Greek phonema, a sound (from phone, sound or voice). |
| Oxford English Dictionary: The first OED citation for phoneme is from 1896: "There are a few of these terms which the author … still thinks valuable and retains. One of these is the term phoneme, invented by Kruszewski…. I take it that the various sounds which are accepted as identical by any speaking community are one phoneme, though they may differ considerably in actual sound."
(R. J. Lloyd in Die Neueren Sprachen III. 615) |