pho·neme
Audio Help [foh-neem] Pronunciation Key
Audio Help [foh-neem] Pronunciation Key –noun Linguistics.
| any of a small set of units, usually about 20 to 60 in number, and different for each language, considered to be the basic distinctive units of speech sound by which morphemes, words, and sentences are represented. They are arrived at for any given language by determining which differences in sound function to indicate a difference in meaning, so that in English the difference in sound and meaning between pit and bit is taken to indicate the existence of different labial phonemes, while the difference in sound between the unaspirated p of spun and the aspirated p of pun, since it is never the only distinguishing feature between two different words, is not taken as ground for setting up two different p phonemes in English. Compare distinctive feature (def. 1). |
[Origin: 1890–95; < F phonème < Gk ph
néma sound, equiv. to phōné-, verbid s. of phōneǐn to make a sound (deriv. of phon
sound, voice) + -ma n. suffix denoting result of action
]
néma sound, equiv. to phōné-, verbid s. of phōneǐn to make a sound (deriv. of phon
sound, voice) + -ma n. suffix denoting result of action
] | Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
phoneme
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| pho·neme
Audio Help (fō'nēm') Pronunciation Key
n. The smallest phonetic unit in a language that is capable of conveying a distinction in meaning, as the m of mat and the b of bat in English. [French phonème, from Greek phōnēma, phōnēmat-, utterance, sound produced, from phōnein, to produce a sound, from phōnē, sound, voice; see bhā-2 in Indo-European roots.] |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
phoneme
"distinctive sound or group of sounds," 1896, from Gk. phonema "a sound," from phonein "to sound or speak," from phone "sound, voice," from PIE base *bha- "speak" (see fame).
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| phoneme | |
noun | |
| (linguistics) one of a small set of speech sounds that are distinguished by the speakers of a particular language |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
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