Phoneme

Phoneme is the basic sound that compounds a word. Phoneme is usually a group of sounds that are similar phonetically and switching between them doesn't change the meaning a word. But switching between phonemes can change the meaning of a word. Pairs of words that differ only in one phoneme are calles "minimal pairs".

Phonemes in Orish
Each letter in Orish represents one phoneme, and in particular:
 * The combinations of letters PF, BV, TS, DZ, TƩ and DƷ represent a single phoneme.
 * The letter Ə is not exactly phonemic, but comes to deal with pronunciation difficulties.
 * Diphthongs are combinations of two phonemes, one of them is a vowel and one of them is a semivowel.