phonology

Etymology

From phono- + -logy.

noun

1. (linguistics, uncountable) The study of the way sounds function in languages, including phonemes, syllable structure, stress, accent, intonation, and which sounds are distinctive units within a language.
2. (linguistics, countable) The way sounds function within a given language; a phonological system.
   The Achean, the ancient Malayu and other mixed phonologies possessing a considerable degree of harshness, were thus formed. 1856, Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, Mission Press, page 16
   Crucially, the neat separateness of phonologies which my account seems to imply is an abstraction and does not mean that the phonologies represented different regional or social dialects. 1997, Jacek Fisiak, Trends in Linguistics: Studies in Middle English Linguistics, Walter de Gruyter, page 545
   Thus, underlying ‘agtus’ was converted first into ‘āgtus’ by the vowel lengthening rule, and then into ‘āktus’ by the ancient persistent rule. This example has previously been interpreted as indicating that new rules can enter a phonology elsewhere than at depth I. 2005, Charles W. Kreidler, Phonology, page 219