By means of, or in terms, of phonemes.

An indivisible unit of sound in a given language. A phoneme is an abstraction of the physical speech sounds (phones) and may encompass several different phones.

(linguistics) Relating to phonemes. / (linguistics) Relating to a difference between sounds that can change the meaning of words in a language.

plural of phoneme

(linguistics) The study of phonemes and their written representations.

phonemic

(linguistics) state of being phonemic

(phonology) The phenomenon in which a single phoneme diverges into two different phonemes.

(phonology) The phenomenon in which two different phonemes merge and become replaced by a single phoneme.

plural of phonemic merger