= Phonotactics
<Phonotactics> specifies which combinations of sound units a <language> permits in particular structural positions. It concerns sequences and their distribution, rather than only the inventory of individual <phonemes>. A physically pronounceable sequence need not be a usual word pattern in every language.<Essentials of Linguistics (2nd edition) by Catherine Anderson and others>[§4.2, language-specific restrictions and onset examples]{ref}
English commonly permits the <syllable onset> `[st]`, while `[tl]` is excluded from ordinary native onsets despite containing familiar consonants. A toy computational grammar over sounds `p,t,a` might allow exactly the CVC forms matching the <regular expression> `[pt]a[pt]`, generating four possibilities. This stipulated example separates the sound inventory from a rule for combining it. Real descriptions need to distinguish word positions, syllable positions, loanwords and variation, and may represent graded preferences as well as categorical exclusions.
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