What is the term for the smallest meaningful unit of words/grammar?

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Multiple Choice

What is the term for the smallest meaningful unit of words/grammar?

Explanation:
Morpheme is the smallest unit that carries meaning or grammatical function in a word. It can be a whole word like cat, or a bound piece like -s for plural or un- for negation. These pieces combine to form words and express meaning or grammar. Phoneme is about sound contrasts that can change meaning (like p vs b), not meaning itself. Allophone is a non-contrastive variation of a phoneme. A syllable groups sounds into a beat but doesn’t inherently carry meaning.

Morpheme is the smallest unit that carries meaning or grammatical function in a word. It can be a whole word like cat, or a bound piece like -s for plural or un- for negation. These pieces combine to form words and express meaning or grammar.

Phoneme is about sound contrasts that can change meaning (like p vs b), not meaning itself. Allophone is a non-contrastive variation of a phoneme. A syllable groups sounds into a beat but doesn’t inherently carry meaning.

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