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A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish meaning.
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SUPPORTED
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Recorded sources
11 sources for · 0 against
Is it true that a phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish meaning?
Yes. Multiple linguistic references, dictionaries, and peer-reviewed articles consistently define a phoneme as the smallest unit of sound in a language capable of distinguishing meaning.
Verdict: SUPPORTED · 11 sources for, 0 against · Last checked
How claims like this are judged
Judged against reference works: claims of this kind are settled by reference works, not journal abstracts.
Evidence for · 11
Reference article covering this claim directly
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Wikipedia: Phoneme. (n.d.). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoneme
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More for · 10
Reference article covering this claim directly
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Wikipedia: English language. (n.d.). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language
Defines a phoneme as the smallest significant unit of sound in a language.
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Loreto, T. (1987). York Press: An introduction to linguistics. York Press. https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780582792937
States the phoneme is a unit of contrast in a language, though lacks full detail in the excerpt.
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P, D. F. (1967). New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston: An introduction to general linguistics. New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston. https://archive.org/details/introductiontoge0061dinn
Identical text to item 15 regarding unit of contrast.
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P, D. F. (n.d.). Holt, Rinehart and Winston: An introduction to general linguistics. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. https://archive.org/details/introductiontoge0000dinn
Defines a phoneme as the smallest contrastive sound unit in spoken language.
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OpenAIRE: The similarities of graphemes in Kazakh and Turkish languages. (2019). OpenAIRE. https://doi.org/10.26577/ejph.2019.v173.i1.ph21
States phonemes are the smallest basic units that can distinguish meaning.
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OpenAIRE: Student's Perspective On Learning English Phonemes. (2023). OpenAIRE. https://doi.org/10.55606/jurribah.v2i2.1497
Directly states that a phoneme is the smallest linguistic unit that can distinguish meaning.
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OpenAIRE: Segmental Language Changes And Phoneme Comparison Developments. (2023). OpenAIRE. https://doi.org/10.70963/jpr.v1i2.47
Defines phoneme as the smallest natural linguistic unit representing a unique sound in a language.
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OpenAIRE: Automatic phoneme segmentation of Tamil utterances. (2015). OpenAIRE. https://doi.org/10.1109/icaccs.2015.7324062
States a phoneme is the smallest sound unit in a language.
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OpenAIRE: Phonology of English: Incisive Overview. (2024). OpenAIRE. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14097476
Describes phonemes as distinctive sound units capable of distinguishing a word from other words.
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OpenAIRE: Phoneme on/off mental image realisation. (2022). OpenAIRE. https://doi.org/10.53730/ijhs.v6ns3.9508
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first checked05 Aug 2026
judged → SUPPORTED · 7505 Aug 2026
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