klankeenheid

Klankeenheid is the smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish meaning. In Dutch linguistic terminology it is equivalent to the phoneme: an abstract sound category that contrasts with other such categories to create differences in words. For example, in many languages the sounds represented by p and b form distinct klankeenheden because pat and bat differ in meaning.

A klankeenheid is not the same as a letter or a sound in every utterance. Letters (graphemes) are writing symbols that may map to one or more klankeenheden, or to the same klankeenheid in different contexts. The actual sounds realized in speech are called phones, and a single klankeenheid can have several allophones—different concrete pronunciations that do not change meaning in a given context.

In phonology, a language’s set of klankeenheden organizes its sound system and helps explain patterns of pronunciation and spelling. Minimal pairs—pairs of words that differ by only one klankeenheid, such as two words differing in a single phoneme—are used to identify contrastive sounds. Conversely, some phonetic variants are non-contrastive allophones of the same klankeenheid and occur without changing meaning.

Languages vary in the number and type of klankeenheden they use, and individual dialects may alter their inventory. Some languages have complex systems with dozens of distinct klankeenheden, while others use a smaller set. The concept is central to both linguistic analysis and language pedagogy, including reading instruction, where awareness of phonemic units supports decoding and pronunciation.