What is phoneme?

Youphonemes they are the sounds produced by the speakers and represent the sound units that form the words of a language. Human beings produce sounds that articulate, come together and form the words. To graphically represent the sounds, we use the letters. It is important to understand the difference between letters and phonemes.

Note the words below:

The)Shoe

Letters: shoe

Phonemes: / shoe /

The number of letters (6) is equal to the number of phonemes (6).

b) Hebrew

Letters: h and b and r and u

Phonemes: / and /, / b /, / r /, / and /, / u /

The number of letters (6) is not the same as the number of phonemes (5), as the letter 'h' does not represent any phoneme/sound.

c) Sex

Letters: s and x o

Phonemes: / s /, / and /, / k /, / s /, / o /

The number of letters (4) does not correspond to the number of phonemes (5), as the letter / x / has a sound of / ks /.

→ Classification of phonemes based on the passage of air from the lungs to the vocal folds:

• Sound phonemes:Sounds that make the vocal folds vibrate;

• Deaf Phonemes:Sounds that do not vibrate the vocal folds;

• Oral phonemes: Sounds released only through the mouth;

• Nasal phonemes:Sounds released by mouth and nose.

→ Types of Phonemes

Vowels:Sounds that pass through the mouth freely. We have five vowels: THE, AND, I, O, U. They are considered to be the base of the syllables of the Portuguese Language.

Semivowels:They are the phonemes / i / and / u / when they are pronounced alongside other vowels and in the same syllable. The semivowel / i / can be represented by the letters 'i' and 'e', ​​and the semivowel 'u' can be represented by the letters 'u' and 'o' in the Portuguese language.

Consonants:Sounds that encounter obstacles when passing through the mouth. We have 19 consonants: B, C, D, F, G, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Z. The letter 'H' é diacritic, that is, it is not considered consonant due to the fact that do not represent, alone, any phoneme.

By Ma. Luciana Kuchenbecker Araújo

Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/o-que-e/portugues/o-que-e-fonema.htm