Foneem

Foneem is a linguistic term referring to the smallest unit of sound that can differentiate meaning in a language. In many languages the foneem corresponds to a set of distinct sounds that a speaker can use to distinguish words, while the actual sound realized in speech is an allophone of that foneem. The term is used throughout phonology to analyze how sounds function in a language and how they interact with rules of pronunciation.

A key distinction is between foneems and allophones. A foneem is abstract and contrastive, whereas allophones are concrete realizations of a foneem that do not produce a new meaning in that language. For example, the aspirated and unaspirated pronunciations of a consonant may be allophones of the same foneem in English, depending on the context. Phonemes are often represented with slashes / /, while phonetic realizations are shown with brackets [ ].

Foneems are identified by contrasts they create. Minimal pairs—pairs of words that differ by only one sound, such as pat and bat—show that /p/ and /b/ belong to separate foneems in English. Languages vary in their inventories of foneems, and phonotactic rules shape which sound sequences are permitted.

Foneems are foundational to phonology and relate to writing systems, borrowing, and language change. They do not always align with orthography, and the same language may have different foneem inventories across dialects.

The foneem concept is central to linguistic theory, literacy, and language teaching. It provides a framework for analyzing sound change and cross-language variation, and helps explain how writing systems interact with pronunciation.