Question

The smallest individual unit in a language

• A. Morpheme
• B. Sound
• C. Syntax
• D. Discourse

Answer 1

Answer:

B. Sound

📌 The smallest individual unit in a language is a sound — more specifically, a phoneme, which is the smallest unit of sound that can distinguish meaning between words.

📌 Let’s see why the other options don’t fit:

• Morpheme → smallest meaningful unit (e.g., un- in unhappy)

• Syntax → the arrangement of words in sentences

• Discourse → language use beyond the sentence level (e.g., conversations, texts)

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📝 Example:
The /p/ sound in pat vs the /b/ sound in bat — just this one sound difference changes the meaning.