In
linguistics (specifically,
phonetics and
phonology), the term
segment may be defined as "any discrete unit that can be identified, either physically or auditorily, in the stream of speech."
[1]Segments are called "discrete" because they are separate and individual, such as consonants and vowels, and occur in a distinct temporal order. Other units, such as tone, stress, and sometimes secondary articulations such as nasalization, may coexist with multiple segments and cannot be discretely ordered with them. These elements are termed suprasegmental. It is not clear how the concept of segment applies to sign languages.
In phonetics, the smallest perceptible segment is a phone.
In phonology, there is a subfield of segmental phonology that deals with the analysis of speech into phonemes (or segmental phonemes), which correspond fairly well to phonetic segments of the analysed speech.
