【正确答案】Phonology studies the rules governing the structure, distribution, and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables. It deals with the sound system of a language by treating phoneme as the point of departure. It is concerned with the linguistic patterning of sounds of human languages, with its primary aim being to discover the principles that govern the way sounds are organized in languages, and to explain the variations that occur.
A phoneme is the smallest linguistic unit of sound that can signal a difference in meaning. Phoneme simply refers to a "unit of explicit sound contrast": the existence of a minimal pair automatically grants phonemic status to the sounds responsible for the contrasts.

【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查的是音系学和音位的定义。音系学研究的是说话人为表达意义而系统的选择语音的方法。音位是音系学研究的一个基本单位，是一组语音特征的抽象集合体，具有区别意义的作用。