What is the smallest unit of sound in speech?

What is the smallest unit of sound in speech?

• A. The smallest unit of sound in speech.
• B. A written letter.
• C. A syllable in a word.
• D. A punctuation mark.

Answer: (A)

The smallest unit of sound in speech is a phoneme. Phonemes are the distinct sounds that can change the meaning of a word; for example, swapping /p/ and /b/ in pat and bat changes the word entirely. A written letter, on the other hand, is a symbol used in writing that doesn’t by itself represent a single sound in every context (letters can stand for different sounds or be silent, as in the c in "city" or the silent e at the end of many words). A syllable is a larger chunk of a word that typically centers on a vowel and may include surrounding consonants, so several phonemes can make up one syllable (for instance, /k/ /æ/ /t/ in "cat" are three phonemes in one syllable). Punctuation marks aren’t sounds at all; they guide how we read or pause but don’t produce a phoneme.

The smallest unit of sound in speech is a phoneme. Phonemes are the distinct sounds that can change the meaning of a word; for example, swapping /p/ and /b/ in pat and bat changes the word entirely. A written letter, on the other hand, is a symbol used in writing that doesn’t by itself represent a single sound in every context (letters can stand for different sounds or be silent, as in the c in "city" or the silent e at the end of many words). A syllable is a larger chunk of a word that typically centers on a vowel and may include surrounding consonants, so several phonemes can make up one syllable (for instance, /k/ /æ/ /t/ in "cat" are three phonemes in one syllable). Punctuation marks aren’t sounds at all; they guide how we read or pause but don’t produce a phoneme.