Phonologically

Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies the systematic organization of sounds in languages. The adverb phonologically is used to describe statements, processes, or phenomena that pertain to the sound system of a language. When a claim is described as phonological, it signals that the relevant evidence concerns phonemes, phonotactics, prosody, syllable structure, and related aspects of sound organization rather than meaning or syntax.

Phonology is distinct from phonetics, which concerns the physical articulation and perception of speech sounds. A phenomenon can be analyzed phonologically without a direct claim about its articulation, and vice versa. Terms such as phonologically conditioned, phonologically motivated, or phonologically irrelevant indicate that the distribution or interpretation of elements follows the language’s phonological rules.

The form phonologically is used in cross-linguistic and theoretical work to bound discussion to sound structure. It appears in descriptions of sound change, loanword adaptation, syllable structure constraints, stress patterns, tone systems, and phonotactic restrictions. Etymologically, phonology derives from Greek phōnē “sound” and -logia, and the adverbial form is created by adding -ly to the noun.