1. the process of identifying and establishing the phonemes of a language or dialect; the conversion of phonetic distinctions into phonemic units.
Usage: linguistics; technical term used in phonology and language analysis

Examples

• The phonemicization of the newly discovered language required careful analysis of sound patterns.
• Linguists conducted phonemicization studies to determine which sounds were contrastive in the dialect.
• Through phonemicization, researchers identified twelve distinct phonemes in the language.
• The phonemicization process involved comparing minimal pairs to establish phonemic distinctions.
• Understanding phonemicization is essential for developing accurate orthographies for unwritten languages.