|What Is Phonology?|
Phonology is the study of linguistic sound systems. Whereas phoneticians study the physical properties of speech sounds, phonologists investigate sounds' functional properties. Phonologists especially investigate sound substitutions (the replacement of one sound with another), and the functional consequences that these substitutions have for word meaning. Thus, replacing one sound with another...
Ideally, phonological data are acquired in the field; text analysis may provide a less reliable source of data. By analyzing many different languages, cross-linguistic tendencies in sound patterning may be revealed, which require scientifically coherent explanations.
The broadest aim of phonology is to isolate the distinct though interacting pressures that underlie both the cross-linguistically common, and language-particular sound patterns that our data analyses reveal. Broadly, these derive from:
Phonology thus conceived is an inherently interdisciplinary field of study. It seeks explanation—wherever it may lie—for the sound patterns that our linguistic investigations reveal, both cross-linguistically prevalent and language-particular.
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