The basic unit of sound from which we build up words and sentences is called what?

• A. Phoneme
• B. Lexical item
• C. Lexical set
• D. Needs Analysis

Answer: (A)

In language, the smallest sound units that can change meaning are phonemes. They’re abstract categories in the mental system of the language, not the actual physical sound you hear. When you swap one sound for another and the word’s meaning changes—like pat versus bat—you’re signaling different phonemes. The actual sounds you hear are phones, and they can vary in realization without altering meaning (allophones).

That’s why the other terms don’t fit here: a lexical item is a single word or fixed expression, a lexical set is a group of related words, and needs analysis is about identifying learners’ needs. So the basic unit of sound used to build words and sentences is the phoneme.