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Phonology is the study of abstract sound patterns in human language, as opposed to phonetics, which studies all aspects of speech, including articulation and acoustics. We illustrate with a somewhat simplified example. In Québec French, the adjective meaning ‘small’ shows an alternation between the tense vowel [i] in the open syllable of the masculine form petit [pt^si] vs. the lax [I] in the corresponding feminine form petite [pt^sIt], where the syllable is closed by the consonant [t], reflecting a general phonological pattern: [i] and [I] are in complementary distribution determined by syllable structure. In English, the same phonetic vowels occur, with the same vocal tract configurations and corresponding sound spectra (modulo accidental details). However, the English vowels can appear in the same environment, say between a [b] and a [t] in a closed syllable, as in beet [bit] vs. bit [bIt]. So, we can say that English and Québec French have the same two vowels phonetically, but the phonological status of [i] and [I] differs in the two languages.

In The Sound Pattern of English (Chomsky and Halle 1968, henceforth SPE) and most phonological models, this difference consists of two factors, a representational difference and a computational difference:

 Québec French has the same vowel stored in the representations of petit and petite, say /i/, and a mental computation turns /i/ into [I] in a closed syllable. The difference in pronunciation is a result of a specific computation.

 English has different vowels stored in the representations of beet and bit. The stored representational (featural) distinction persists in pronunciation.

The phonology of each language consists of various computations. In SPE the computations are called rules, and the phonology of a language is a complex function resulting from composing the rules in a particular order. The input to the phonology is called an underlying representation, and the output is called a surface representation or, somewhat confusingly, a “phonetic representation.” The mapping of an underlying form to a surface form by the computational system is called a derivation. It is the output of the derivation, the “phonetic” form, that is the input to the mechanisms leading to speech, and this output form should not be confused with the actual articulatory movements and their concomitant acoustic results.