| phonology |
| Definition: The study of speech sounds in a particular language. Note: As opposed to phonetics, which is the study of speech sounds in general. |
| Etymology: The word was coined by combining the Greek phone, sound or voice, with ology, the study of. |
| Oxford English Dictionary: Its first OED citation is from 1799: "Specimens of all well authenticated oral languages; forming a comprehensive digest of phonology." (E. Fry Pantographia (title-p.)) |