segmental

A segmental phoneme is a unit of sound in a language that can be placed in a sequential order with other sounds to form words. These are the basic building blocks of spoken language, as opposed to suprasegmental features like tone or stress.12

Speech sounds are produced by the expulsion of air from the lungs, modified by the vocal tract, including the tongue, lips, and vocal cords. These sounds can be classified as vowels or consonants based on how the airflow is obstructed. The distinction between different sounds is crucial for distinguishing meaning in a language. For example, the sounds /p/ and /b/ are distinct phonemes in English because they change the meaning of words like "pit" and "bit".342