A minimal pair demonstrates which phonemic distinction?

A minimal pair demonstrates which phonemic distinction?

• A. Semantic similarity
• B. Phonemic contrast that changes meaning
• C. Syntactic function
• D. Morphological form

Answer: (B)

Minimal pairs reveal a phonemic distinction because they are pairs of words that differ by exactly one sound, and that small sound change changes the word’s meaning. This shows a contrast between phonemes—the individual sounds that can signal different words within a language. For example, pat and bat differ only in their initial consonant sound, which yields two distinct meanings; the rest of the word is the same, so the difference is indeed phonemic. The other options don’t fit because semantic similarity concerns meaning rather than sound distinctions, syntactic function is about how words work in sentences, and morphological form is about the structure or affixes of a word.

Minimal pairs reveal a phonemic distinction because they are pairs of words that differ by exactly one sound, and that small sound change changes the word’s meaning. This shows a contrast between phonemes—the individual sounds that can signal different words within a language. For example, pat and bat differ only in their initial consonant sound, which yields two distinct meanings; the rest of the word is the same, so the difference is indeed phonemic. The other options don’t fit because semantic similarity concerns meaning rather than sound distinctions, syntactic function is about how words work in sentences, and morphological form is about the structure or affixes of a word.