Linguist Forum

General Linguistics => Linguist's Lounge => Topic started by: eslinguist on June 09, 2014, 02:09:46 PM

Title: branch of linguistics
Post by: eslinguist on June 09, 2014, 02:09:46 PM

Hi ,
Could you pls introduce for me different branches and sub-branches of linguistics?!
Like sociology, psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics &...
Thanks in advance

Title: Re: branch of linguistics
Post by: lx on June 09, 2014, 03:07:35 PM

Have a look on the right hand side of the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics). It mentions most of them.  8)

Title: Re: branch of linguistics
Post by: Daniel on June 09, 2014, 04:22:07 PM

In the technical/theoretical domain, there are:
Phonetics - Phonology - Morphology - Syntax - Semantics - Pragmatics
Or: What kind of things about language do you want to study?

In more applied domains (using one or more of the above technical domains) there are:
(Pure) theoretical - Sociolinguistics - (1st/2nd lg) Acquisition - Psycholinguistics - Historical (vs. Synchronic/"theoretical") - Descriptive/fieldwork - Typology (comparative) - Computational/NLP
Or: What do you want to do with that information? What questions will you ask?

And of course you'll need to pick a language (or languages).
Or: What language do you want to research?


So you might pick:
Psycholinguistics of French morphology
(How do people process word structure in French?)

Or Sociolinguistics of Russian phonetics
(How does pronunciation vary across different populations of Russian speakers?)

Or Theory of Turkish Syntax
(How can we explain how Turkish sentences work?)

etc.



Of course there are some other topics as well (I don't mean to exclude anything) but that's a broad outline.

Note that Cognitive Linguistics is a particular theory (spanning all of the theoretical/technical domains).


If you have more specific questions, please ask.

Title: Re: branch of linguistics
Post by: eslinguist on June 10, 2014, 02:48:42 AM

Hi.
Thanks all... :)

Title: Re: branch of linguistics
Post by: eslinguist on June 14, 2014, 02:27:40 AM

Is this categorization right?

- General linguistics:

 phonetics
    - Articulatory
     - Acoustics
      - Auditory   
 phonology
 morphology
word formation
 syntax
 semantics
 semiotics
 etymology

-  Linguistics' theories
 Generative Linguistics 
 transformational linguistics
 Historical and evolutionary linguistics
 Language Acquisition
Cognitive linguistics
  Descriptive ling
  Theoretical ling
  Structural linguistics
  Formal linguistics
 Functional Linguistics
- Applied Linguistics / Interdisciplinarity field

 Educational Linguistics
 psycholinguistics
 sociolinguistics
      - Dialectology 
      - Accentology   
  communication linguistics
  computational linguistics
  Ethnolinguistics
   Anthropological Linguistics
   Neurolinguistics
  Forensic linguistics/ legal or language and the law
       - Judicial linguistics 
  Historical Linguistics
    - Historical and comparative linguistics   
       - Diachronic Linguistics   
       -  Synchronic Linguistics 
  philosophical Linguistics
  Mathematical Linguistics
  Area and political Linguistics
  Clinical linguistics
  Critical linguistics


-  Major branches of applied Linguistics

   lexicography

     --Practical lexicography
     --Theoretical lexicography

  Bilingualism - Multilingualism
 computer mediated communication (CMC
 Conversation analysis
  contrastive Linguistics
 Sign Linguistics
 Language assessment
  Literacy
  discourse analysis
  Language Pedagogy
   second language acquisition
  Child language
  Lexicography
   Language planning and policy
  Interlinguistics
 Literature and stylistics
Pragmatics
forensic linguistics and translation

Artificial Languages
translation
     - Machine translation
Language and Thought  Speech therapy
Institutional Linguistics
Phylogeny
Ontology
Origin of languages
 Relatedness of languages
Birth and death of languages
Animal communication
Sign language
 Structure of languages

Thank you in advance.

Title: Re: branch of linguistics
Post by: lx on June 14, 2014, 04:40:34 AM

Quote from: eslinguist on June 14, 2014, 02:27:40 AM

Is this categorization right?

There is no answer to that question, really. We don't work by a standard categorisation. Fields exist to name the type of research done. Does that list cover every topic imaginable? No. Can a few people start studying a new branch of research which would warrant its own category in the list? Sure. The basic thing is, more or less, that is a fair description of the main fields, but it won't be perfect. There isn't a categorisation that can be labelled right or wrong.

Title: Re: branch of linguistics
Post by: Daniel on June 14, 2014, 10:14:36 AM

That categorization is possible but not necessary. There is a lot of interaction between the fields. As I wrote above, the main variables are:
1. The language you study.
2. The linguistic phenomena you study (eg, phonology, syntax, etc.)
3. What you do with it (applied? theoretical? descriptive? etc)
4. What theories you use (within whatever you're doing)

There isn't a more complete answer than that.