Linguistics - Linguistics Branches

 

English Linguistics

 

Branches of linguistics

Linguistics is the formal study of language. Its main subdisciplines are:  sociolinguistics, the study of language in its social context; semantics, the study of meaning;  syntax, the study of sentence structure; pragmatics, the study of meaning in context; morphology, the study of word structure; sociolinguistics, the study of language in its social context; phonology, the study of sound systems; and phonetics, the study of the sounds of speech Phonetics is sometimes seen as not properly linguistic, because it is the outward, physical manifestation of the main object of linguistic research, which is language (not speech), and language is abstract. 

– Phonetics is the study of how sounds are produced, the production of speech, Phonetics studies the speech sounds of human languages:

 their physical properties

 How they are produced and

 How they are perceived

Phonetics, then, as the study of human speech sounds, aims to provide a set of features to describe, classify and distinguish all the sounds of the human language. 

– Phonology is the study of the structure of the sounds system of particular languages. Phonology is the study of the sound systems of languages. It is a subfield of linguistics that focuses on the patterns of sounds and how they are used to convey meaning in language. Phonology examines the relationships between the sounds of a language, their distribution and organization, and the rules that govern their use.

– Morphology: is the study of the internal structure of words, their minimal units of  meaning (i.e. morphemes) and of the word-formation processes. Morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies the structure of words and how they are formed. It deals with the ways in which words are built up from smaller meaningful units called morphemes, which are the smallest units of meaning in a language.

– Syntax is the study structure of sentences. Syntax is the branch of linguistics that studies the rules governing the structure of sentences in a language. It is concerned with the principles that determine how words can be combined into phrases and how phrases can be combined into sentences to create meaning.

In syntax, linguists analyze the ways in which sentences are constructed, including the order of words and the roles they play in expressing meaning. For example, in English, a basic sentence typically consists of a subject, a verb, and an object, in that order. Syntax examines how the order of these elements can be changed to create different meanings or emphasis.

– Semantics is the study, how the meaning is encoded in a language. Semantics is the section of linguistics science that deals with the studies of meaning, changes in meanings, and the principles that rule the relationship between words, sentences and their meaning. It is the studies of the relationships between symbols, signs and anything they represent.

– Pragmatics the study the meaning in context. Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics that studies how context contributes to meaning in communication. It is concerned with the ways in which people use language in social situations to accomplish their goals, convey meaning, and understand each other.

– Psycholinguistics studies the interrelation of language and mind in processing and producing utterances and in language acquisition. Psycholinguistics is the interdisciplinary field that studies the psychological and neural processes involved in language acquisition, production, comprehension, and use. It brings together insights and methods from linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science to understand how the brain processes and uses language.

– Sociolinguistics studies the social functions of language and the social characteristics of its users. Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and society. It is a field of linguistics that examines how social factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, class, and culture influence the use and interpretation of language. Sociolinguistics explores how people use language in different social contexts, such as in different regions, communities, or social groups. It investigates how language variation and change occur over time and how they are shaped by social, cultural, and historical factors.

– Applied linguistics the application linguistic study societies and theories in everyday real-life problems involving language. Applied Linguistics is the scientific study of language and it is generally concerned with the nature of language and communication .Linguistics deals with the study of particular languages, and the search for general properties common to all languages or large groups of languages. There are broadly three aspects to the study, including language form, language meaning, and language use in discursive and communicative contexts.