Definition of "phonology" [pho•nol•o•gy]

• The study of speech sounds in language or a language with reference to their distribution and patterning and to tacit rules governing pronunciation. (noun)
• The sound system of a language: the phonology of English. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "And the mora clearly is a salient concept in Japanese phonology."
• "It ignores the many aspects of grammar that are not recursive, such as phonology, morphology, case, agreement, and many properties of words."
• "In my experience, the dialogue that borders on tiring (which really isn't the right word -- I'd say challenging) is that which focuses on spelling words differently to highlight pronunciation (phonology) instead of taking the time to depict how a dialect is syntactically different."