Here's a breakdown:
* Alphabet: A collection of letters that represent the sounds of a language. Each letter typically corresponds to a single phoneme (a basic unit of sound).
* Phoneme: The smallest unit of sound that can distinguish meaning in a language. For example, the words "cat" and "cot" differ only by one phoneme, the vowel sound.
While alphabets are the most common way to represent language sounds, other systems exist:
* Syllabaries: These systems use symbols to represent syllables, not individual sounds.
* Logographic writing systems: These systems use symbols to represent entire words or morphemes (meaningful units of language).
Let me know if you'd like to learn more about any of these systems!