Which term refers to written symbols that represent speech sounds?

The term "graphemes" refers to written symbols that represent speech sounds. Graphemes can be letters, character combinations, or any written representation of the smallest unit of sound in a language. In essence, graphemes are the visual components of writing that correspond to phonemes, which are the actual sounds in speech.

Understanding graphemes is crucial for literacy development, as they form the basis of how we decode and encode written language. For instance, the letter "b" is a grapheme that represents the phoneme /b/. This connection between graphemes and their respective sounds is fundamental in teaching reading and writing.

Other terms like phonemes are concerned with the sounds themselves rather than their written representations. Logograms represent entire words or concepts rather than individual sounds, and allophones relate to variations in sound pronunciation without changing meaning. Thus, graphemes accurately capture the concept of written symbols that stand for the sounds we produce when speaking.