phonemics

n. Phonemics is a term used to describe the study of phonemes and phoneme systems, a use of the term that is relatively obsolete. In the field of literacy, phonemics is sometimes used interchangeably with the more specific term phonemic awareness, the ability consciously to identify and distinguish between phonemes. Phonemic awareness, a highly reliable predictor of early reading ability, is assessed by testing a person's ability to blend, isolate, categorize, segment, and delete phonemes in words. – EMF