Meaning & use

phonology

noun·Academic

The branch of linguistics that studies how sounds are organized and used within a particular language.

See it in a sentence

Her thesis on English phonology examined how stress patterns change word meaning.

Phonology explains why certain sound combinations feel natural in one language but not another.

A note on using this word

Phonology deals with abstract sound patterns and rules, while phonetics studies the physical production of speech sounds.

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