The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to linguistics:
Linguistics is the scientific study of natural language. Someone who engages in this study is called a linguist. Linguistics can be theoretical or applied.
Linguistics can be described as all of the following:
An academic discipline — a body of knowledge given to—or received by—a disciple (student); a branch or sphere of knowledge, or field of study, that an individual has chosen to specialise in.
A field of science — a widely recognized category of specialized expertise within science, embodying its own terminology, nomenclature, and scientific journals.
A social science — a field of academic scholarship that explores aspects of human societies related to the languages they speak.
Theoretical linguistics
Cognitive linguistics
Generative linguistics
Functional theories of grammar
Quantitative linguistics
Phonology
Graphemics
Morphology
Syntax
Lexis
Semantics
Pragmatics
Descriptive linguistics
Anthropological linguistics
Comparative linguistics
Comparative method
Historical linguistics
Phonetics
Graphetics
Etymology
Sociolinguistics
Applied linguistics
Computational linguistics
Evolutionary linguistics
Forensic linguistics
Internet linguistics
Language acquisition
Language assessment
Language documentation
Language revitalization
Language development
Language education
Linguistic anthropology
Neurolinguistics
Psycholinguistics
Second-language acquisition
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 combine 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.
Applied linguistics — study of language-related issues applied in everyday life, notably language policies, planning, and education. (Constructed language fits under Applied linguistics.)
Biolinguistics — study of natural as well as human-taught communication systems in animals, compared to 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.
Evolutionary linguistics — study of the origin and subsequent development of language by the human species.
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.
Contrastive linguistics
Corpus linguistics
Dialectology
Discourse analysis
Grammar
Interlinguistics
Language didactics
Language learning
Language teaching
Language for specific purposes
Lexicology
Linguistic statistics
Orthography
Rhetoric
Text linguistics
Schools, movements, and approaches of linguistics
Cognitive linguistics
Danish School
Functionalism
Generative linguistics
Geneva School
Neo-Grammarians
Prague School
Prescription and description
Soviet linguistics
Stratificational linguistics
Structuralism
Systemic linguistics
SIL International
Tagmemics
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.
History of linguistics
Unsolved problems in linguistics
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 functionalism
Generative grammar leads to generative phonology and semantics
Alternate syntactic systems develop in 80s
Computational linguistics becomes feasible the late 80s
Neurolinguistics and the biological basis of cognition
- 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?
What basic concepts / terms do I have to know to talk about linguistics?
Morphology
morpheme, inflection, paradigm, declension, derivation, compound
Phonology
phoneme, allophone, segment, mora, syllable, foot, stress, tone
Grammar
tense, aspect, mood and modality, grammatical number, grammatical gender, case
Syntax
phrase, clause, grammatical function, grammatical voice
Lexicology
word, lexeme, lemma, lexicon, vocabulary, terminology
Semantics
meaning, sense, entailment, truth condition, compositionality
Pragmatics
presupposition, implicature, deixis
People who had a significant influence on the development of the field
John Langshaw Austin
Leonard Bloomfield
Franz Bopp
Noam Chomsky
David Crystal
Daniel Everett
M.A.K. Halliday
Louis Hjelmslev
Roman Jakobson
Sir William Jones
Pāṇini
Kenneth L. Pike
Rasmus Rask
Edward Sapir
Ferdinand de Saussure
August Schleicher
John R. Searle
Claude Lévi-Strauss
Nikolai Trubetzkoy
Noah Webster
Benjamin Lee Whorf
Languages
Language families and languages
ISO 639
Official languages
Definitions by language
Alphabets & Orthography
Common misspellings
English words without rhymes
Acronym
Wiktionary:Definitions of acronyms and abbreviations