Which term refers to a unit of sound that cannot be replaced without changing meaning?

• A. Phoneme
• B. Notional Syllabus
• C. Ellipsis
• D. Display Questions

Answer: (A)

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish meaning. If you swap one phoneme for another, the word often changes to a different word with a different meaning, which is the key idea this item tests. For example, changing the initial sound in “pat” to a different phoneme gives “bat,” a word with a different meaning. The same idea holds for vowels as in “bit” versus “bet.” Phonemes are abstract sound categories; the exact realization of a sound can vary in different contexts (allophones) without changing meaning, but replacing one phoneme with another will usually produce a new word with a new meaning. The other terms aren’t about sound units that change meaning: notional syllabus relates to curriculum content, ellipsis to omission of words, and display questions to a format of questioning.