Phonological
/ˌfoʊnəˈlɑːdʒɪkəl/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjectiveRelated to the sound system of a language.
Extra definitions
adjectiveConcerning speech sound patterns.
adjectiveOf or relating to phonology.
adjectivePertaining to the way sounds function in languages, including phonemes, syllable structure, stress, and accent.
Sentence Examples
The study examines phonological changes.
Children develop phonological awareness.
A phonological rule explains this pattern.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
None
Antonyms:
None
Word Origin & History
Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.?
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
“[...] Phonological competence is also reflected in intuitions about phonological structure: any English speaker intuitively feels, for example, that the sequence 'black bird' can either be a single phonological word (BLACKbird, with primary stress on black = a species of bird, like thrush, robin, etc.), or two independent phonological words (BLACK BIRD or black BIRD = bird which is black, as opposed to 'white bird', 'yellow bird', etc.).”
— 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational Grammar, Cambridge: University Press, →ISBN, page 5:
“I am not pleased with one or two of the noun cases (they are too similar to others) and I want to change the way that the Focus category (see Section 3.5 of the grammar) is manifested (using word-order instead of an infix or other phonological marker). All in all, the language is structured almost exactly as I wanted.”
— 2006, “Ithkuil Q & A”, in The Conlanger's Library, archived from the original on 14 Jan 2025, page 6:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The study examines ____ changes.