What is a phonological process?

• A. A random variation in sound that does not affect meaning.
• B. A general rule controlling stress patterns.
• C. A systematic rule or pattern that changes sounds in specific contexts (e.g., assimilation, elision, epenthesis).
• D. A property of writing systems.

Answer: (C)

A phonological process is a systematic rule that changes sounds in specific contexts. These processes are pattern-based changes that occur in speech, not random variations, and they operate within the sound system of a language. Examples include assimilation, where a sound becomes more like a neighboring sound; elision, where a sound is skipped in certain contexts; and epenthesis, where a sound is inserted to break up a difficult cluster. This context-sensitive, rule-driven nature is what defines a phonological process. By contrast, options describing random sound variation, stress pattern rules, or orthography refer to things outside this concept: random variation doesn’t follow a regular rule, stress patterns involve prosody rather than segmental changes, and writing systems deal with how sounds map to letters, not how sounds change in speech.