Yoni Alwi

PHONOLOGY
September 12th, 2020

PHONOLOGY
DEFINITIONS

- The study of the physiological, aerodynamic, and acoustic

characteristics of speech-sounds is the central concern
of phonetics. The study of how sounds are organized into
systems and utilized in languages is the central concern
of phonology. Neither of these two linguistic disciplines is
independent of the other. A knowledge of what features of
sound are most utilized in languages determines what aspects
of sound production are most worth studying in depth. Thus
phonetics depends to some extent upon phonology to indicate
areas of linguistic relevance and importance. Phonology, on
the other hand, is heavily dependent on phonetics, since it is
phonetics that provides the insights that enable one to discover
what sound features are linguistically utilized, and it is
phonetics again, that supplies the terminology for the
description and classification of the linguistically relevant
features of sounds. Catford (2001)

- The study of how sounds are produced and how the position of
the mouth can be changed to produce different sounds
(AVERY; EHRLICH, 1992)

- The description of the systems and patterns of sounds that

occur in a language (LADEFOGED, 1993);

- The study and description of the patterning of noises and

silences of speech in regular ways within particular languages
(PENNINGTON, 1996);

- The study of the abstract side of the sounds of language

(ROACH, 2000);

- The most basic activity in phonology is phonemic analysis, in

which the objective is to establish what the phonemes are and
arrive at the phonemic inventory of the language
(ROACH, 2009);
Yoni Alwi
PHONOLOGY
September 12th, 2020

HISTORY

Phonology may seem to be a modern practice all about comparing Geordies

with Scousers but it can actually be traced back to the 4th Century BC when
a grammar of the ancient Indian language "Sanskrit" was composed. This
was one of the first steps into phonological research, but there were many
more developments to come before linguists reached the stage that we are
at today.

CONCLUSION

Phonology is a study of speech sounds in language or a language with

reference to their distribution and patterning and to tacit rules governing
pronunciation.