The GATE Grind

GATE 2021 XH5 – Question 39

Cognition · Thinking and Language: Concepts, propositions, imagery, information processing and ecological approaches · 1 mark · Multiple choice

What is the smallest unit of speech/language that carries meaning?

  1. Morpheme
  2. Syntax
  3. Semantics
  4. Phoneme

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Correct answer: (A) Morpheme

Explanation

A morpheme is a minimal meaningful unit, such as a root or a plural suffix, A. A phoneme is a contrastive sound unit and need not carry meaning by itself. Syntax concerns sentence structure and semantics the study of meaning rather than the smallest unit.

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