Linguistic

Linguistics is the scientific study of language and its structure. It involves analysing language form, language meaning, and language in context. Linguists traditionally analyse human language by observing an interplay between sound and meaning.

History[edit | edit source]

The study of language, linguistics, has been developing since the 4th century BC, when Indian grammarians such as Pāṇini and Yāska developed a method for the linguistic analysis of Sanskrit in terms of its phonology and morphology, and around the same time, in the west, the Greek philosopher Plato was speculating about the nature of language.

Branches of Linguistics[edit | edit source]

Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context.

Language Form[edit | edit source]

The study of language form involves understanding the physical properties of sounds or sign and how they combine to make words and sentences.

Phonetics[edit | edit source]

Phonetics is the study of physical sounds (or signs in sign languages). It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds (or phonemes), including their articulatory, acoustic, and auditory characteristics.

Phonology[edit | edit source]

Phonology is the study of sounds (or signs) as discrete, abstract elements in the speaker's mind that distinguish meaning.

Language Meaning[edit | edit source]

The study of language meaning involves understanding how languages employ logical structures and real-world references to convey, process, and assign meaning.

Semantics[edit | edit source]

Semantics is the study of meaning. It can be applied to entire texts or to single words.

Pragmatics[edit | edit source]

Pragmatics is the study of how context influences speakers' interpretation of utterances.

Language in Context[edit | edit source]

The study of language in context involves understanding all aspects of language in its social context.

Sociolinguistics[edit | edit source]

Sociolinguistics is the study of how language varies and changes in social groups.

Psycholinguistics[edit | edit source]

Psycholinguistics is the study of how language is processed in the brain.

See Also[edit | edit source]

Linguistic Resources
Need Help Finding a Doctor? Need help finding a doctor or specialist anywhere in the world? Explore our world directory. WikiMD's DocFinder can assist you in locating millions of physicians.	Medical Knowledge Access the latest research - Most recent articles Ongoing trials.