Phoneme Is The Smallest Unit English Language

Phoneme is the smallest unit and meaning full sound feature in the sound system of language. The most basic elements in the sound system of a language are called phonemes. Phonemes are the minimal (smallest) meaningful elements in the sound system of language. For example /p/, /b/, /t/, /@/ is called phonemes. In any language, there is a definite number of phonemes.

In English, for example, there are 44 phonemes grouped into 20 vowels and 24 consonants. If there is a minor change in the sound of a phoneme, the sound is called allophone. For example./t/ is a phoneme; th/ is its allophone. Some contemporary linguists has defined the phoneme is minimum bundle of relevant sounds. English has two types of phoneme:-Normally stress is known as degree of force.

In English language some words are stressed and some are unstressed. According to Joanne Kenworthy, Teaching English pronunciation ( 1987 :27 ) stress is crucial in English pronunciation. Stress serves to mark function of words in spoken English.

In normal speech, all nouns, pronouns, main verbs, adjective and adverbs are stressed. It is rightly said by the contemporary linguists that it is easy to mastered in English language but much difficult to mastered in stress and intonation. There are are two level of stress:-a.

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