The following outline is provided as an overview and topical guide to linguistics:

Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

is the

scientific Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

study of

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

. Someone who engages in this study is called a linguist. Linguistics can be theoretical or applied.

Branches of linguistics

Subfields of linguistics

* General linguistics **

Phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...

– the study of the speech faculty **

Phonology Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often pre ...

– the usage of vocalized sounds and systems of sounds to form language ** Morphology – the property of sound and meaning dynamics in language **

Syntax In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituenc ...

– the property of grammar that governs sentence structure **

Semantics Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...

– the study of meaning as encoded in grammar **

Pragmatics In linguistics and the philosophy of language, pragmatics is the study of how Context (linguistics), context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship ...

– the study of how context contributes to meaning ** Graphemics – the study of writing systems *** Graphetics – the study of writing shapes as assigned to sounds or ideas * Theoretical linguistics – the study of language as an abstract object ** Generative linguistics – an approach which seeks to ground grammar in a specialized language module ** Formalism (linguistics) – the theory of language as a formal system with mathematical-logical rules and a formal grammar ** Functional linguistics – language as used and coming from use ** Quantitative linguistics – the study of quantitative language laws and corresponding general theories ** Formal semantics – the study of semantics through formal logic-based models * Descriptive linguistics – describing how a particular language is used ** Anthropological linguistics – ''the place of language in its wider social and cultural context, and its role in making and maintaining cultural practices and societal structures'' **

Historical linguistics Historical linguistics, also known as diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of how languages change over time. It seeks to understand the nature and causes of linguistic change and to trace the evolution of languages. Historical li ...

– study of historical language change over time *** Comparative linguistics – comparing languages to find similarities and historical connections ** Etymology – the study of word histories and origins ** Lexicology – the study of vocabularies and the structural relationships between many different words ** Sociolinguistics – the study of society's effects on language **

Discourse analysis Discourse analysis (DA), or discourse studies, is an approach to the analysis of written, spoken, or sign language, including any significant semiotic event. The objects of discourse analysis (discourse, writing, conversation, communicative sy ...

– analysis of language use in texts (spoken, written, or signed) **

Linguistic typology Linguistic typology (or language typology) is a field of linguistics that studies and classifies languages according to their structural features to allow their comparison. Its aim is to describe and explain the structural diversity and the co ...

– comparative study of the similarities and differences between language structures in the world's languages. *

Applied linguistics Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, psychology, Communication stu ...

– finding solutions to real-life problems related to language ** Computational linguistics – the use of computation applied to language databasing, analysis, translation, and synthesis ** Forensic linguistics – language science applied to the processes of law and justice ** Internet linguistics – the study of language usage on the Internet ** Language assessment – assessing first or second language faculty in individuals ** Language documentation – comprehensive description of the grammar and use practices of languages of a particular group ** Language revitalization – ''is an attempt to halt or reverse the decline of a language or to revive an extinct one'' **

Language education Language education refers to the processes and practices of teaching a second language, second or foreign language. Its study reflects interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary approaches, usually including some applied linguistics. There are f ...

– teaching specific language and language science **

Linguistic anthropology Linguistic anthropology is the interdisciplinary study of how language influences social life. It is a branch of anthropology that originated from the endeavor to document endangered languages and has grown over the past century to encompass mo ...

– ''study of how language influences social life'' *

Psycholinguistics Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the interrelation between linguistic factors and psychological aspects. The discipline is mainly concerned with the mechanisms by which language is processed and represented in the mind ...

– ''is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, comprehend and produce language'' ** Cognitive linguistics – an approach which seeks to ground grammar in general cognition **

Language acquisition Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language. In other words, it is how human beings gain the ability to be aware of language, to understand it, and to produce and use words and s ...

– the study of how children and adults acquire language knowledge and ability ** Language development – the study of early language formation ** Second-language acquisition – the study of how a second language is learned

Subfields, by linguistic structures studied

Sub-fields of structure-focused linguistics include: *

– study of the physical properties of speech (or signed) production and perception *

– study of sounds (or signs) as discrete, abstract elements in the speaker's mind that distinguish meaning * Morphology – study of internal structures of words and how they can be modified *

– study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences *

– study of the meaning of words ( lexical semantics) and fixed word combinations (

phraseology In linguistics, phraseology is the study of set or fixed expressions, such as idioms, phrasal verbs, and other types of multi-word lexical units (often collectively referred to as ''phrasemes''), in which the component parts of the expression tak ...

), and how these compose to form the meanings of sentences *

– study of how utterances are used in communicative acts – and the role played by context and nonlinguistic knowledge in the transmission of meaning *

– analysis of language use in texts (spoken, written, or signed) *

– comparative study of the similarities and differences between language structures in the world's languages.

Subfields, by nonlinguistic factors studied

– study of language-related issues applied in everyday life, notably language policies, planning, and education. ( Constructed language fits under Applied linguistics.) * Biolinguistics – the study of the biological and evolutionary components of human language. * Clinical linguistics – application of linguistic theory to the field of Speech-Language Pathology. * Computational linguistics – study of linguistic issues in a way that is 'computationally responsible', i.e., taking careful note of computational consideration of algorithmic specification and computational complexity, so that the linguistic theories devised can be shown to exhibit certain desirable computational properties implementations. * Developmental linguistics – study of the development of linguistic ability in individuals, particularly the acquisition of language in childhood. *

– study of language change over time. Also called diachronic linguistics. * Language geography – study of the geographical distribution of languages and linguistic features. * Neurolinguistics – study of the structures in the human brain that underlie grammar and communication. *

– study of the cognitive processes and representations underlying language use. * Sociolinguistics – study of variation in language and its relationship with social factors. * Stylistics – study of linguistic factors that place a discourse in context.

Other subfields of linguistics

* Contrastive linguistics * Corpus linguistics *

Dialectology Dialectology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ''dialektos'', "talk, dialect"; and , ''-logy, -logia'') is the scientific study of dialects: subsets of languages. Though in the 19th century a branch of historical linguistics, dialectology is often now c ...

Grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

* Interlinguistics * Language learning * Language teaching * Language for specific purposes * Lexicology *

Orthography An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis. Most national ...

* Rhetoric * Text linguistics

Schools, movements, and approaches of linguistics

* Cognitive linguistics * Danish functional linguistics * Functionalism * Generative grammar * Geneva School * Interactional linguistics * Kazan School * Neogrammarian * Prague linguistic circle * Prescription and description * Soviet linguistics * Stratificational linguistics * Structural linguistics * Systemic functional linguistics * Tagmemics

Related fields

Semiotics Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter. Semiosis is a ...

– study of the relationship between signs and what they signify more broadly. From the perspective of semiotics, language can be seen as a sign or symbol, with the world as its representation. *

Terminology Terminology is a group of specialized words and respective meanings in a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use; the latter meaning is also known as terminology science. A ''term'' is a word, Compound (linguistics), com ...

– study of terms and their use. ** Terminology science – study of special vocabulary *

Philosophy of language Philosophy of language refers to the philosophical study of the nature of language. It investigates the relationship between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of Meaning (philosophy), me ...

– takes a philosophical approach to language. Many formal semanticists are philosophers of language, differing from linguist semanticists only in their metaphysical assumptions (if at all). ** Philosophical logic ** Topic / Theme **

Discourse Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. F ...

History of linguistics

Timeline of discovery of basic linguistics concepts

''When were the basic concepts first described and by whom?'' * Ancient Sanskrit grammarians * Ancient Greek study of language * Roman elaborations of Greek study * Medieval philosophical work in Latin * Beginnings of modern linguistics in the 19th century * Behaviorism and mental '' tabula rasa'' hypothesis * Chomsky and the cognitive revolution * The Linguistics Wars * Compositional formal semantics arises from the work of Richard Montague and Barbara Partee * Alternate syntactic systems develop in the 1980s * Computational linguistics becomes feasible in the late 1980s * Neurolinguistics and the biological basis of

cognition Cognition is the "mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...

* Deep learning in the 2010s

Questions in linguistics

# What is language? # How did it/does it evolve? # How does language serve as a medium of communication? # How does language serve as a medium of thinking? # What is common to all languages? # How do languages differ?

Basic concepts

''What basic concepts / terms do I have to know to talk about linguistics?'' * Morphology **

morpheme A morpheme is any of the smallest meaningful constituents within a linguistic expression and particularly within a word. Many words are themselves standalone morphemes, while other words contain multiple morphemes; in linguistic terminology, this ...

inflection In linguistic Morphology (linguistics), morphology, inflection (less commonly, inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical category, grammatical categories such as grammatical tense, ...

, paradigm, declension, derivation, compound *

phoneme A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...

, allophone, segment, mora, syllable, foot, stress, tone *

** category, tense, aspect, mood and modality,

grammatical number In linguistics, grammatical number is a Feature (linguistics), feature of nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verb agreement (linguistics), agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one", "two" or "three or more"). English and many other ...

grammatical gender In linguistics, a grammatical gender system is a specific form of a noun class system, where nouns are assigned to gender categories that are often not related to the real-world qualities of the entities denoted by those nouns. In languages wit ...

, case *

phrase In grammar, a phrasecalled expression in some contextsis a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English language, English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adject ...

clause In language, a clause is a Constituent (linguistics), constituent or Phrase (grammar), phrase that comprises a semantic predicand (expressed or not) and a semantic Predicate (grammar), predicate. A typical clause consists of a subject (grammar), ...

, grammatical function, grammatical voice * Lexicology **

word A word is a basic element of language that carries semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguist ...

lexeme A lexeme () is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms ta ...

, lemma,

lexicon A lexicon (plural: lexicons, rarely lexica) is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word () ...

vocabulary A vocabulary (also known as a lexicon) is a set of words, typically the set in a language or the set known to an individual. The word ''vocabulary'' originated from the Latin , meaning "a word, name". It forms an essential component of languag ...

terminology Terminology is a group of specialized words and respective meanings in a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use; the latter meaning is also known as terminology science. A ''term'' is a word, Compound (linguistics), com ...

** meaning,

sense A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the surroundings through the detection of Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. Although, in some cultures, five human senses were traditio ...

, entailment, truth condition, compositionality *

** presupposition, implicature,

deixis In linguistics, deixis () is the use of words or phrases to refer to a particular time (e.g. ''then''), place (e.g. ''here''), or person (e.g. ''you'') relative to the Context (language use), context of the utterance. Deixis exists in all known na ...

Languages of the world

Languages by continent and country

Linguistics scholars

''People who had a significant influence on the development of the field'' * J.L. Austin * Leonard Bloomfield * Franz Bopp * Noam Chomsky * Jean Berko Gleason * Joseph Greenberg * Paul Grice * M.A.K. Halliday * Louis Hjelmslev * Roman Jakobson * Sir William Jones * William Labov * George Lakoff * Ronald Langacker * Richard Montague * Pāṇini * Barbara Partee * Kenneth L. Pike * Rasmus Rask * Edward Sapir * Ferdinand de Saussure * August Schleicher * Lucien Tesnière * Nikolai Trubetzkoy * Benjamin Lee Whorf

Linguistics lists

* Languages ** Language families and languages ** ISO 639 ** Official languages ** Definitions by language *

Alphabet An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...

s &

** List of writing systems * Ideograms - Chinese and Japanese * Syllabaries - Korean * Mixed: Ancient Egyptian * Common misspellings * English words without rhymes *

Acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

** Wiktionary:Definitions of acronyms and abbreviations

The placement of linguistics within broader frameworks

Linguistics can be described as an

academic discipline An academic discipline or academic field is a subdivision of knowledge that is taught and researched at the college or university level. Disciplines are defined (in part) and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, a ...

and, at least in its theoretical subfields, as a field of science, being a widely recognized category of specialized expertise, embodying its own terminology, nomenclature, and

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication designed to further the progress of science by disseminating new research findings to the scientific community. These journals serve as a platform for researchers, schola ...

s. Many linguists, such as David Crystal, conceptualize the field as being primarily scientific. Linguistics is a multi-disciplinary field of research that combines tools from

natural science Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

s, formal sciences, and the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

.Behme, Christina; Neef, Martin.
Essays on Linguistic Realism
' (2018). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 7–20 Historically, there has been some lack of consensus on the disciplinary classification of linguistics, particularly theoretical linguistics. Linguistic realists viewed linguistics as a formal science; linguistic nominalists (the American structuralists) viewed linguistics as an empirical or even physical science; linguistic conceptualists viewed linguistics as a branch of psychology and therefore a social science; others yet have argued for viewing linguistics as a mixed science. Linguistics is heterogeneous in its methods of research, so that each area of theoretical linguistics may resemble methodologically either formal science or empirical science, to different degrees. For example,

phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...

uses empirical approaches to study the physical

acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...

of spoken language. On the other hand, semantically and grammatically, the usability of a formal or natural language is dependent on a formal and arbitrary axiomatization of rules or norms. Furthermore, as studied in

pragmatics In linguistics and the philosophy of language, pragmatics is the study of how Context (linguistics), context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship ...

and

semiotics Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter. Semiosis is a ...

, linguistic meaning is influenced by social context. To enable communication by upholding a lexico-semantic norm, the speakers of a shared language need to agree on the meaning of a

sequence In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is cal ...

s; for instance, "aunt" ( /æ/, /n/, /t/) would be acknowledged to signify "parent's sister or parent's sister-in-law", instead of "drummer" or "guest". Likewise, grammatically, it may be necessary for the interlocutors to agree on the morphological and syntactic properties of the sequence; say, that the sequence (/æ/ , /n/, /t/) would be treated as a singular

noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...

convertible morphologically to plurality by the addition of the suffix -s, or that as a noun it must not be modified syntactically by an

adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a determiner, a clause, a preposition, or a sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, or level of certainty by ...

(for instance, "Let's call our immediately aunt" would thus be recognized as a grammatically incoherent structure, in a manner similar to a mathematically undefined expression).

References

External links

Glottopedia, MediaWiki-based encyclopedia of linguistics, under construction

Subfields according to the Linguistic Society of America

an
French<->English glossary
at

SIL International SIL Global (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics International) is an evangelical Christian nonprofit organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, to expan ...

"Linguistics" section
of A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism and Philology, ed. J. A. García Landa (University of Zaragoza, Spain) * Linguistics and language-related wiki articles o
Scholarpedia
an
Citizendium
{{Outline footer Applied linguistics Wikipedia missing topics