The Phonology/Phonetics Interface

Is speech in the mouth or in the brain? Do we hear with our ears or our minds? The answer is: both. The sounds of language are both physical objects and cognitive constructs. The physical aspects of speech are the province of phonetics: sound waves that are produced by the movement of articulators and received by the ear. Phonology, by contrast, studies cognitive aspects: systematic patterns in the ways that languages combine sounds to create meaning. Many books look at phonology and phonetics as separate disciplines. This book looks at the interaction between the two.