In speech, the smallest unit that carries meaning is called a:
2018
In speech, the smallest unit that carries meaning is called a:
Answer: A. morpheme — ConceptA morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that carries meaning. A phoneme is the smallest contrastive sound unit, while a syllable is a rhythmic unit…
- A.
morpheme
- B.
syllable
- C.
phoneme
- D.
word
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept
A morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that carries meaning. A phoneme is the smallest contrastive sound unit, while a syllable is a rhythmic unit of pronunciation and a word may contain one or more morphemes.
Application
The stem asks specifically for the smallest unit that carries meaning in speech. The term that matches this definition is morpheme.
Contrast
A syllable organizes sounds into a pronunciation beat; it need not carry meaning.
A phoneme distinguishes one sound from another; by itself it need not carry meaning.
A word may consist of one or more morphemes, so it is not necessarily the minimum meaningful unit.
Result
Therefore, the smallest meaning-bearing unit is a morpheme.