What is the primary difference between phonetics and phonology?

The primary difference between phonetics and phonology lies in their focus on speech sounds. Phonetics is the branch of linguistics that studies the physical properties of speech sounds, including how they are produced (articulation), transmitted (acoustics), and perceived (auditory). It often analyzes speech sounds in isolation, examining each individual sound (or phoneme) without necessarily considering how they interact with one another in speech.

On the other hand, phonology is concerned with how sounds function within a particular language or languages. It looks at the rules governing the sound systems and how sounds interact in a given linguistic context. Phonology studies patterns, contrasts, and systematic variations of sounds, which means it takes into account sounds in combination rather than in isolation.

This distinction is crucial in understanding the broader field of linguistics and how these two areas complement each other. It's worth noting that the other options misunderstand the definitions of phonetics and phonology in various ways, conflating them with aspects of written language, meaning, grammatical structure, or limitations to certain types of languages, which do not accurately reflect their true definitions and areas of study.