Linguists have debated the concept of the phoneme for many years. Some linguists argue that there is no such thing as a phoneme, while others argue that the concept is essential to our understanding of language and communication.
The implications of these debates are far-reaching. If there is no such thing as a phoneme, then our understanding of language and communication must be revised. On the other hand, if the concept of the phoneme is essential to our understanding of language and communication, then this has important implications for how we study and teach languages.