Phonology
Phonology is the field of linguistics concerned with investigating sound systems and how they function in languages. The sound system itself is also sometimes called phonology. A phoneme is a founding concept of phonology [Baldick, p. 193].
Phonology is a branch of linguistics investigating specific languages' sound systems. Only a relatively small number of sounds produced by the human vocal apparatus and studied by phonetics are used distinctively in any language. The goal of phonology is to show the patterns of distinctive sounds of a particular language and to create general statements about the nature of sound systems in languages worldwide. In contrast, phonology is connected with the variety and function of sounds in particular languages and the regulations showing the types of phonetic connections that relate to and contrast words and other linguistic items [Crystal, p. 365].
Phonology is the sound systems and patterns of languages, or the field of linguistics which investigates these. While phonetics primarily deals with the physical nature of speech sounds, phonology is a central part of linguistics. It concerns the manner in which sounds behave in languages [Trask, p. 156].
⠀ Chris Baldick. (2015). The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
⠀ David Crystal. (2008). A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, 6th Edition. New-Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.
⠀ Trask R.L. (1999). Key Concepts in Language and Linguistics. London: Routledge.