<P> A phoneme ( / ˈfoʊniːm / ) is one of the units of sound ( or gesture in the case of sign languages , see chereme ) that distinguish one word from another in a particular language . For example , in most dialects of English , the sound patterns / θɪn / ( thin ) and / dɪn / ( din ) are two separate words distinguished by the substitution of one phoneme , / θ / , for another phoneme , / d / . ( Two words like this that differ in meaning through a contrast of a single phoneme form what is called a minimal pair ) . In many other languages these would be interpreted as exactly the same set of phonemes ( i.e. / θ / and / d / would be considered the same ) . </P>
<P> A phoneme ( / ˈfoʊniːm / ) is one of the units of sound ( or gesture in the case of sign languages , see chereme ) that distinguish one word from another in a particular language . For example , in most dialects of English , the sound patterns / θɪn / ( thin ) and / dɪn / ( din ) are two separate words distinguished by the substitution of one phoneme , / θ / , for another phoneme , / d / . ( Two words like this that differ in meaning through a contrast of a single phoneme form what is called a minimal pair ) . In many other languages these would be interpreted as exactly the same set of phonemes ( i.e. / θ / and / d / would be considered the same ) . </P>
basic units of sound in a language are called
basic units of sound in a language are called
phonemes
phonemes