Linguistics term for the smallest unit of sound that can distinguish meaning in a language.
Japanese phonemes include the five vowels 'a', 'i', 'u', 'e', and 'o'.
Differences in phonemes create differences in meaning.
phonemics
morphophoneme
phonemic system; phoneme system
phonotactics
From 音 (sound) + 素 (element), a calque of the Western linguistic term 'phoneme'.