fonoloogilist

Fonoloogilist is an Estonian adjective form meaning “phonological,” i.e., related to phonology, the branch of linguistics that studies the sound system of a language. Phonology investigates the inventory of sounds (phonemes), their distribution and alternations (allophones), phonotactics, syllable structure, prosody, and how sounds interact within a language.

In Estonian, adjectives decline to agree with nouns in case and number. The base form is fonoloogiline; fonoloogilist is a form used before a noun in certain cases, most commonly in partitive constructions. For example, fonoloogiline süsteem refers to the phonological system in nominative singular, while fonoloogilise süsteemi and fonoloogilist süsteemi illustrate genitive and partitive configurations, respectively. The exact ending depends on the grammatical role of the noun in the sentence.

Use of the term is common in academic and descriptive linguistics, where it qualifies phenomena, theories, or descriptions that pertain to phonology. For instance, one might speak of fonoloogiline teooria (a phonological theory) or fonoloogiline analüüs (a phonological analysis). The term is distinct from fonetiline, which relates to phonetics—the study of sound production, articulation, and perception—whereas fonoloogiline concerns the abstract sound system and its rules.

See also: Fonoloogia, the Estonian field of phonology; general linguistics; phonetics.