The smallest distinctive sound unit in a language is a
A) prefix.
B) suffix.
C) morpheme.
D) phoneme.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The smallest distinctive sound unit in a language is a phoneme. Phonemes are the basic building blocks of language and are used to distinguish meaning between different words. For example, the /p/ sound in "pat" distinguishes it from "bat" which has the /b/ sound. Prefixes and suffixes are meaningful units that are added to words but are not the smallest sound units. A morpheme is the smallest meaning unit in a language and can consist of one or more phonemes.

The Smallest Distinctive Sound Unit in a Language Is a