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{{linguistics}}
*[http://www.arts.ed.ac.uk/celtic/poileasaidh Rannsachadh air poileasaidh cànain agus dealbhadh cànain - Research on Language Policy and Language Planning] - [[University of Edinburgh]]-based research on language planning in [[Scotland]]; articles in [[Scottish Gaelic language|Scottish Gaelic]] or [[English language|English]].
'''Phonology''', as one of the central fields of [[linguistics]], is the study of the system speakers use to represent [[language]]; this includes units of [[sound]] in a [[spoken language]] and [[hand]] movements in a [[sign language]].<ref>Signs are distinguished from [[gestures]], such as waving at someone in greeting, in that the latter are non-linguistic or supply extra meaning alongside the linguistic message.</ref> Although there are potentially infinitely many ways of producing a [[sound]] or moving a [[hand]], phonologists are interested only in how these group into abstract categories: for example, how and why speakers of many languages perceive the difference between [l] and [r] as nonsignificant,<ref>Symbols in square brackets represent speech sounds using the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]]; slanting brackets, as in /kæt/ 'cat', are used to represent [[phoneme]]s - distinct, abstract units that may represent several sounds.</ref> whereas others consider them distinct enough to distinguish different [[word]]s.<ref>[[Japanese language|Japanese]] has a single phoneme /r/ to represent ''l'' and ''r'', while English contains two, i.e. /l/ and /r/.</ref> Phonology also goes beyond differences between individual sounds, involving topics such as [[syllable]] structure, [[stress (linguistics)|stress]], [[accent (linguistics)|accent]] and [[intonation (linguistics)|intonation]].
 
One task in phonology is to identify distinctive units within a language. For example, in [[English language|English]], the words ''pin'' and ''bin'' seem to each consist of three ''segments'', with only the first differing. Phonologists may refer to these first units as different ''[[phoneme]]s'', and the contrast between /p/ and /b/ as ''phonemic'' - the two words are a ''minimal pair'' differing by only one phoneme. In ''pin'' and ''spin'', on the other hand, though the two ''p'' sounds are phonetically rather different, English speakers would consider them the same /p/ phoneme. In other languages, for example [[Thai language|Thai]] and [[Quechua language|Quechua]], this same difference of [[aspiration (linguistics)|aspiration]]<ref>''Aspiration'' is the explosion of air as the sounds [p], [t] and [k] are articulated at the beginning of a stressed syllable or the very beginning of an utterance in English. It does not occur after [s] within syllables, but some speakers do have aspiration syllable-finally. Aspiration can be observed by holding a piece of paper in front of the mouth as words such as ''pin'' are pronounced; the paper will flap in the extra airflow, whereas it will not for ''spin''.</ref> versus non-aspiration is phonemic, and therefore speakers will consider them to be significantly different. Though most phonologists no longer consider phonemes to be psychologically 'real', they remain in phonological study as a kind of shorthand for referring to more complex phonological representations that more adequately explain how such examples differ.<ref>See Chomsky & Halle (1968) for the first major work that abandoned the phoneme as a true unit of phonology, in favour of more abstract ''phonological features''.</ref>
 
''[[Phonetics]]'' focuses on the physical sounds of speech, and thus it often informs phonological inquiry by showing how [[pronunciation]]s are related.<ref>Phonetics also studies [[speech perception]] (how the brain discerns sounds) and [[acoustics]] (the physical qualities of sounds as movement through air), as well as articulation (sound production through the movements of the lungs, tongue, etc.).</ref> However, since this sort of inquiry does not primarily concern itself with the study of abstract patterns in language, phoneticians' work usually complements linguistics, rather than constituting a central component.
 
Most writing systems, such as the [[Roman alphabet]] used for English, represent phonology in some way, such as the letter ''b'' indicating the phoneme /b/, though this relationship is often inexact. This relationship between reading and phonological knowledge is of concern to linguists interested in [[orthography]] (written language), [[language acquisition]] specialists, and educators concerned with developing literacy.<ref>See for example Frost & Katz (1992); Young-Scholten (2002); Connor et al. (2007).</ref>
 
==Topics in phonology==
'''Insert other topics here - e.g. intonation, stress'''
===Syllables===
:''Main article: [[Syllable]]''
Native speakers of many languages may well have certain intuitions about how many 'beats' there are in a given word; for example, most English speakers would agree that there are two 'syllables' in the word ''butter'' but only one in ''but''. That such phonological intuitions exist is one reason for phonologists to want to find about what syllables are; another reason is that assuming their existence explains a good deal about the way sounds and signs pattern in language.
 
Syllables cannot be defined through reference to breathing or articulatory movements; they are abstract, phonological units rather than a physical phenomenon. Syllables do not easily correspond to muscular contractions, for instance; nor do they correlate well with predictable changes in [[pitch]].<ref>See Laver (1994: 114); Davenport & Hannahs (2005: 73-74).</ref> Initially, defining syllables was such a difficult task that early [[generative phonology]] ignored it; only in the 1970s and 1980s was a serious reanalysis attempted.<ref>Chomsky & Halle (1968) do not use the syllable; it was reintroduced gradually as a segment-based boundary-creation rule (Hooper, 1972), then later as a full unit of phonological organisation (Selkirk, 1984).</ref>
 
Since the syllable was reintroduced to phonological theory, it has come to be seen as essential in defining the behaviour of segments and stress in many languages. For instance, predicting whether a British English /l/ will be velarised or not is difficult without referring to positions within the syllable: if an [l] forms part of the ''rhyme'' of the syllable (the component containing the vowel or syllabic consonant) it will be velarised; if it is part of the ''onset'' (the initial part of the syllable), then it will not.<ref>Without the syllable, a set of untidy rules is required to explain the distribution of what are called 'clear' and 'dark' (velarised) ''l'': the dark ''l'' appears word-finally (''pal'', ''panel'') and before a consonant (''hold''), ''except'' before [j] (''Italian''); otherwise, clear ''l'' appears.</ref> The syllable is one of the mechanisms that organise the order and positioning of segments.
 
==Theories of phonology==
'''Some explanation of the main theories, e.g. generative phonology, autosegmental phonology, phonology in optimality theory, government phonology, natural phonology'''
 
==Footnotes==
{{reflist|2}}
 
==References==
*[[Noam Chomsky|Chomsky N]] & Halle M (1968) ''The Sound Pattern of English.'' New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0262530972.
*Connor CM, Morrison FJ, Fishman BJ, Schatschneider C & Underwood P (2007) '[http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1134513 The early years: algorithm-guided individualized reading instruction].' ''Science'' 315: 464-465.
*Davenport M & Hannahs SJ (2005) ''Introducing Phonetics and Phonology.'' London: Arnold. ISBN  0-340-81045-9.
*Frost R & Katz L (eds) (1992) ''Orthography, Phonology, Morphology and Meaning.'' Amsterdam: Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-444-89140-2.
*Hooper JB (1972) 'The syllable in phonological theory.' ''Language'' 48: 525-540.
*Laver J (1994) ''Principles of Phonetics.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521456555.
*Selkirk EO (1984) On the major class features and syllable theory. In Aronoff M & Oerhle RT (eds) ''Language Sound Structure.'' Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. pp.107-136. ISBN 978-0262010740.
*[[Martha Young-Scholten|Young-Scholten M]] (2002) Orthographic input in L2 phonological development. In Burmeister P, Piske T & Rohde A (eds) ''An Integrated View of Language Development: Papers in Honor of Henning Wode.'' Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier. pp.263-279. ISBN 3-88476-488-8.
 
==See also==
*[[Phonetics]]
*[[Linguistics]]

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