M3: Phonology, Phonemes, & Allophones page 33

Phonology is the study of sounds in a language.

Some important terms to know right away -- 

• phonemes—a phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word, i.e. “cat” has three phonemes, “c”, “a” and “t”.

Now you try it.

• How many phonemes are in “meaning”?

 

Another important term in phonology is --

• allophones—letters or combination of letters that make the same sound, i.e. “k” and “c” make /k sound “Keep Cool”)

Watch this video for a more indepth explanation of phonemes and allophones.