Which of the following describes the ability to change or delete phonemes in words?

The ability to change or delete phonemes in words is accurately described by phonemic awareness. This is a critical skill that involves recognizing and manipulating the individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. Phonemic awareness encompasses various activities, including blending sounds to form words, segmenting words into their constituent phonemes, and altering phonemes to create new words.

Understanding phonemic awareness is essential for literacy development, as it lays the foundation for reading and writing. It enables learners to break down words into their smallest sound units, which is fundamental for decoding words while reading and creating words while writing.

In contrast, phonetic manipulation typically refers to changing the actual phonetic characteristics or features of sounds rather than directly altering the phonemes in spoken language. Phoneme substitution involves replacing one phoneme with another in a word, which is a more specific action than simply changing or deleting phonemes. Sound segmentation is the process of breaking a word down into its individual sounds, rather than involving manipulation of those sounds. All these concepts contribute to a broader understanding of phonemic awareness but do not encompass the full range of abilities mentioned in the question.