Phonology

Phonology (Greek phone = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics closely associated with phonetics. Whereas phonetics is about the physical production and perception of sounds of speech, phonology describes the way sounds function - within a given language or across languages. For example, /p/ and /b/ in English are distinctive units of sound, (i.e., phonemes.) We can tell this from minimal pairs such as "pin" and "bin", which mean different things, but differ only in one sound. On the other hand or are often pronounced differently depending on their placement relative to other sounds, yet they are still considered to be the same phoneme. The /p/ in "pin" is, for example, aspirated (a feature which differentiates phonemes in languages like Thai and Quechua) while the very same phoneme in "spin" is not.

Related Topics:
Greek - Linguistics - Phonetics - Sound - English - Phoneme - Minimal pair - Aspirated - Thai - Quechua

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The principles of phonological theory have also been applied to the analysis of signed languages, with gestures and their relationships as the object of study.

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