Phonology
Phonology investigates the principles governing the sound systems of
particular languages and of language in general. It can be subdivided into the following subareas:- Segmental phonology
studies 'what' people say, i.e. the segments of speech (vowels and consonants) that comprise the sound system of a language. - Suprasegmental phonology
deals with 'how' people say things, i.e. with structures and phenomena beyond the segmental level, including stress, tone, metrics and others.
The major goal of phonological studies is to set up a general framework for the phonological structure of language, i.e. the setting up of a phonological theory.