"Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages systematically organize their phones or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs."
The study of the sound systems of languages, including the patterns of phonemes, syllables, and prosody.
Phoneme: The smallest unit of sound in a language.
Allophone: The variation in pronunciation of a phoneme in different contexts.
Morpheme: The smallest unit of meaning in a language.
Syllable: A unit of sound that contains one vowel sound and one or more consonant sounds.
Stress: The emphasis or prominence placed on a syllable or word in a sentence.
Tone: The pitch contour used to convey meaning in tonal languages.
Phonotactics: The set of rules that govern the permissible sequences of sounds in a language.
Phonemic inventory: The set of distinctive sounds used in a language.
Minimal pairs: Pairs of words that differ in only one sound and have different meanings.
Natural classes: A group of sounds that share some phonetic or phonological properties.
Feature theory: The idea that speech sounds can be described in terms of a set of distinctive features.
Optimality theory: A framework used to analyze language that posits that the output of grammatical rules is determined by the interaction of violable constraints.
Autosegmental theory: A framework used to analyze language that posits that different features of speech sounds are represented on separate tiers.
Metrical phonology: A framework used to analyze language that focuses on the prosodic structure of language, including stress and syllable structure.
Generative Phonology: This is a theoretical framework that seeks to explain how speakers produce and perceive sounds in order to create language. It proposes a set of rules and constraints that can be used to generate all the possible sound combinations in a language.
Optimality Theory: This framework assumes that individual language speakers have a subconscious set of constraints that they use to make decisions in their communication. These constraints might favor certain sound combinations over others as they might be simpler or more natural within the language.
Natural Phonology: This approach emphasizes the natural tendencies of humans to adjust and simplify their pronunciation of sounds in order to make language easier to understand and learn. It argues that speakers often modify their pronunciation in order to avoid overly complex sounds, and instead use more simple phonetic or phonemic elements to create their language.
Artistic Language: An artificial language or constructed language created for artistic purposes, rather than for effective communication or scientific investigation. Examples of artistic constructed languages include Elvish or Klingon in popular culture.
International Auxiliary Languages (IALs): These are artificial languages designed for international communication, intended to be easily learned by speakers of multiple languages. Examples of IALs include Esperanto and Interlingua.
"The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a particular language variety."
"At one time, the study of phonology related only to the study of the systems of phonemes in spoken languages."
"But may now relate to any linguistic analysis either."
"Sign languages have a phonological system equivalent to the system of sounds in spoken languages."
"The building blocks of signs are specifications for movement, location, and handshape."
"At first, a separate terminology was used for the study of sign phonology ('chereme' instead of 'phoneme', etc.)."
"But the concepts are now considered to apply universally to all human languages."