The following outline is provided as an overview and topical guide to linguistics:
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Someone who engages in this study is called a linguist. Linguistics can be theoretical or applied.
Branches of linguistics
Subfields of linguistics
General linguistics
Syntax – the property of grammar that governs sentence structure
Semantics – the study of meaning as encoded in grammar
Lexicology – the study of vocabularies and the structural relationships between many different words
Morphology – the property of sound and meaning dynamics in language
Pragmatics – the study of how context contributes to meaning
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 – study of historical language change over time
Comparative linguistics – comparing languages to find similarities and historical connections
Phonology – the usage of vocalized sounds and systems of sounds to form language
Graphemics – the study of writing systems
Graphetics – the study of writing shapes as assigned to sounds or ideas
Phonetics – the study of the speech faculty
Etymology – the study of word histories and origins
Sociolinguistics – the study of society's effects on language
Applied linguistics – 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 – teaching specific language and language science
Linguistic anthropology – study of how language influences social life
Psycholinguistics – 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 – 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:
Phonetics – study of the physical properties of speech (or signed) production and perception
Phonology – 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
Syntax – study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences
Semantics – study of the meaning of words (lexical semantics) and fixed word combinations (phraseology), and how these compose to form the meanings of sentences
Pragmatics – study of how utterances are used in communicative acts – and the role played by context and nonlinguistic knowledge in the transmission of meaning
Discourse analysis – analysis of language use in texts (spoken, written, or signed)
Linguistic typology – comparative study of the similarities and differences between language structures in the world's languages.
Subfields, by nonlinguistic factors studied
Applied linguistics – 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.
Historical linguistics – 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.
Psycholinguistics – 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
Discourse analysis
Grammar
Interlinguistics
Language learning
Language teaching
Language for specific purposes
Lexicology
Orthography
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
SIL International
Tagmemics
Related fields
Semiotics – investigates 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 - is the study of terms and their use.
Terminology science - study of special vocabulary
Philosophy of language - 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
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 80s
Computational linguistics becomes feasible the late 80s
Neurolinguistics and the biological basis of cognition
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?
word, lexeme, lemma, lexicon, vocabulary, terminology
Semantics
meaning, sense, entailment, truth condition, compositionality
Pragmatics
presupposition, implicature, deixis
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
Alphabets & Orthography
List of writing systems
Ideograms - Chinese and Japanese
Syllabaries - Korean
Mixed: Ancient Egyptian
Common misspellings
English words without rhymes
Acronym
Wiktionary:Definitions of acronyms and abbreviations
The placement of linguistics within broader frameworks
Linguistics can be described as an academic discipline 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 journals. 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 sciences, social sciences, formal sciences, and the humanities.
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 uses empirical approaches to study the physical acoustics 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 and semiotics, 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 of phonemes; 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 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 (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).
See also
Number of words in English
Lexicography
References
External links
Glottopedia, MediaWiki-based encyclopedia of linguistics, under construction
Subfields according to the Linguistic Society of America
Glossary of linguistic terms and French<->English glossary at SIL International
"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 on Scholarpedia and Citizendium