Which term designates the smallest unit of sound that can change meaning in a language?

The smallest unit of sound that can change meaning in a language is referred to as a phoneme. Phonemes are the fundamental building blocks of words, and they can vary in number from language to language. In English, for instance, the difference between the words "bat" and "pat" is determined by the initial phonemes /b/ and /p/, which distinguishes the two words in terms of meaning.

Understanding phonemes is crucial for phonemic awareness, a key component in reading instruction, as it helps learners recognize that changing a phoneme in a word can create a different word. This concept forms the basis for developing skills in both decoding and spelling, making phonemes essential in literacy development.

In contrast, a graphos relates to the written representation of sounds, while syllables are larger units that consist of one or more phonemes combined together. Morphemes, on the other hand, are the smallest units of meaning in a language, which can include words or parts of words such as prefixes and suffixes, but they are not sound units. Thus, phoneme is the most accurate term for the smallest sound unit capable of altering meaning.