Phonology
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Phonology is the study of the sounds of languages, their patterns, and their representations in the minds of speakers. The term may also refer to the sum of the phonological components of a language. Phonology generally refers to spoken languages, but many argue that the units of signed languages are cognitively equivalent.
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Phones and phonemes
Linguists divide the sounds used in language into phones and phonemes. Phones are the physical sounds used in speech, what one actually pronounces whether they are aware of it or not. Phonemes are abstraction representations of sound, sets of possible phones grouped together and regarded as functionally equivalent by speakers.
Phonotactics
This area of study deals with the rules concerning how phonemes may combine within words, how syllables may be structured, and so forth. In most languages syllables consist of an onset, a nucleus, and possibly a coda, often represented by the formula CV(C), or consonant-vowel-consonant.
- Syllable structure
- Sonority hierarchy
Prosody
- Intonation
- Length
Morphophonology
Conlanging
Additionally, phonology is a stage of development of conlangs in which the creator selects the phonemes that will appear in their conlang. By convention this generally happens quite early on, as one cannot usually develop morphology and vocabulary without knowing the phonemes available or how they interact. One can hardly create desinences and inflectional paradigms otherwise, except perhaps in the most abstract sense of interlinear glosses. Very many conlangs never get beyond the phonology stage, and it is always among the first thing offered when a new conlang is being shown off. Usually there is not much to say at this point, and the acolyte can be disheartened. Do not be! Even if you have a phonology that sucks, what you have yet to develop may be super!
See also
