Phonetics vs. Phonology

Phonetics vs. Phonology

Phonetics studies the nature of speech sounds:

• their production by the vocal tract (articulatory phonetics)
• their perception by the auditory system (auditory phonetics)
• their physical properties as sound waves (acoustic phonetics)

Phonology studies the ways in which speech sounds form systems and patterns:

• the relationship between how sounds are pronounced and how they are stored in the mind
• which phonetic distinctions are significant enough to signal differences in meaning
• the ways sounds are organized within words