Phonology refers to how sounds work together when pronounced in a language. Some key aspects of phonology include: 1) Phonemes are the smallest units of sound, often represented with slashes like /t/, while phones are the actual pronunciation of those sounds in context. 2) Minimal pairs are two words that differ by one phoneme, helping to identify sounds. Minimal sets contain multiple words that vary by one phoneme. 3) Phonotactics is how the mind recognizes permissible sound combinations in a language.