Which term refers to the smallest sound unit that signals a meaning difference?

Which term refers to the smallest sound unit that signals a meaning difference?

• A. Morpheme
• B. Phoneme
• C. Allophone
• D. Lexicon

Answer: (B)

The term that refers to the smallest sound unit that signals a meaning difference is indeed phoneme. Phonemes are the building blocks of spoken language and are distinct units of sound that can change the meaning of a word when altered. For example, changing the first sound in the word "bat" from /b/ to /c/ transforms the word into "cat," illustrating how different phonemes create different meanings. Morpheme, while also a fundamental linguistic unit, pertains to the smallest meaningful segment of language, which may be a word or a part of a word (like a prefix or suffix), rather than focusing specifically on sound. An allophone refers to variations of a phoneme that do not change meaning and occur in specific contexts, while lexicon denotes the mental dictionary of words and their meanings within a language. Each of these categories has its role in linguistics, but phoneme is specifically concerned with sound units that can alter meaning, clearly making it the correct choice in this context.

The term that refers to the smallest sound unit that signals a meaning difference is indeed phoneme. Phonemes are the building blocks of spoken language and are distinct units of sound that can change the meaning of a word when altered. For example, changing the first sound in the word "bat" from /b/ to /c/ transforms the word into "cat," illustrating how different phonemes create different meanings.

Morpheme, while also a fundamental linguistic unit, pertains to the smallest meaningful segment of language, which may be a word or a part of a word (like a prefix or suffix), rather than focusing specifically on sound. An allophone refers to variations of a phoneme that do not change meaning and occur in specific contexts, while lexicon denotes the mental dictionary of words and their meanings within a language. Each of these categories has its role in linguistics, but phoneme is specifically concerned with sound units that can alter meaning, clearly making it the correct choice in this context.