Concept:A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in spoken language that can distinguish meaning.Explanation:Language components include phoneme (sound), morpheme (meaning), syntax (grammar), semantics (meaning of words/sentences), and pragmatics (social rules). Phonemes are the basic sound units; for example, the word "bat" has three phonemes: /b/, /a/, /t/. Changing one phoneme changes the word (e.g., "bat" to "cat"). Morphemes are made of phonemes but are units of meaning, not sound. Syntax and semantics deal with structure and meaning at higher levels. Therefore, the smallest unit of spoken language is the phoneme.Answer:A. Phoneme