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{{Short description|Scientific study of language}}
{{About|the field of study|publications}}
{{Redirect|Linguist}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=August 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Linguistics}}
{{refimprove|date=August 2025}}
'''Linguistics''' is the scientific study of [[language]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Trask |first=Robert Lawrence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHt-gNzagikC&q=linguistics |title=Language and Linguistics: The Key Concepts |date=2007 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-41359-6 |page=156 |language=en |access-date=21 September 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Halliday |first1=Michael A. K. |author-link=Michael Halliday |title=On Language and Linguistics |last2=Jonathan Webster |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8264-8824-4 |page=vii}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=What is Linguistics? {{!}} Linguistic Society of America |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/what-linguistics |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208131649/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/what-linguistics |archive-date=8 February 2022 |access-date=2022-02-08 |website=www.linguisticsociety.org}}</ref> The areas of linguistic analysis are [[syntax]] (rules governing the structure of sentences), [[semantics]] (meaning), [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] (structure of words), [[phonetics]] (speech sounds and equivalent gestures in [[sign language]]s), [[phonology]] (the abstract sound system of a particular language, and analogous systems of sign languages), and [[pragmatics]] (how the context of use contributes to meaning).<ref name="akmajian" /> Subdisciplines such as [[biolinguistics]] (the study of the biological variables and evolution of language) and [[psycholinguistics]] (the study of psychological factors in human language) bridge many of these divisions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Linguistics Program – Linguistics Program | University of South Carolina |url=https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/linguistics/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606230152/https://www.sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/linguistics/ |archive-date=6 June 2022 |access-date=3 June 2022}}</ref>
Linguistics encompasses [[Outline of linguistics|many branches and subfields]] that span both theoretical and practical applications.<ref name="linguisticsociety.org">{{Cite web |title=Studying Linguistics {{!}} Linguistic Society of America |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/studying-linguistics |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308052138/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/studying-linguistics |archive-date=8 March 2022 |access-date=2022-04-01 |website=www.linguisticsociety.org}}</ref> [[Theoretical linguistics]] is concerned with understanding the [[universal grammar|universal]] and [[Philosophy of language#Nature of language|fundamental nature]] of language and developing a general theoretical framework for describing it. [[Applied linguistics]] seeks to utilize the scientific findings of the study of language for practical purposes, such as developing methods of improving language education and literacy.
Linguistic features may be studied through a variety of perspectives: [[Synchronic analysis|synchronically]] (by describing the structure of a language at a specific point in time) or [[Historical linguistics|diachronically]] (through the historical development of a language over a period of time), in [[Monolingualism|monolinguals]] or in [[Multilingualism|multilinguals]], among children or among adults, in terms of how it is being learnt or how it was acquired, as abstract objects or as cognitive structures, through written texts or through oral elicitation, and finally through mechanical data collection or practical fieldwork.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Francis |first=Alexandre |title=Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia |date=27 September 2013 |publisher=SAGE Publishing |isbn=978-1412999632 |pages=184–187 |language=English}}</ref>
Linguistics emerged from the field of [[philology]], of which some branches are more qualitative and holistic in approach.<ref name="Crystal-1981">{{Cite book |last=Crystal |first=David |title=Clinical linguistics |date=1981 |publisher=Springer-Verlag |isbn=978-3-7091-4001-7 |___location=Wien |page=3 |oclc=610496980 |quote=What are the implications of the term "science" encountered in the definition on p. 1? Four aims of the scientific approach to language, often cited in introductory works on the subject, are comprehensiveness, objectivity, systematicness and precision. The contrast is usually drawn with the essentially non-scientific approach of traditional language studies—by which is meant the whole history of ideas about language from Plato and Aristotle down to the nineteenth century study of language history (comparative philology).}}</ref> Today, philology and linguistics are variably described as related fields, subdisciplines, or separate fields of language study, but, by and large, linguistics can be seen as an umbrella term.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |year=2022 |chapter=Philosophy of Linguistics |access-date=3 June 2022 |chapter-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/linguistics/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214225442/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/linguistics/ |archive-date=14 December 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> Linguistics is also related to the [[philosophy of language]], [[stylistics]], [[rhetoric]], [[semiotics]], [[lexicography]], and [[translation]].
== Major subdisciplines ==
[[File:Citation de Ferdinand de Saussure.jpg|thumb|Swiss linguist [[Ferdinand de Saussure]] is regarded as the creator of [[semiotics]].]]
==
{{main|Historical linguistics}}
Historical linguistics is the study of how language changes over history, particularly with regard to a specific language or a group of languages. [[Western world|Western trends]] in historical linguistics date back to roughly the late 18th century, when the discipline grew out of [[philology]], the study of ancient texts and oral traditions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Campbell |first=Lyle |title=Historical Linguistics: An Introduction |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-7486-4601-2 |___location=Edinburgh |page=391}}</ref>
Historical linguistics emerged as one of the first few sub-disciplines in the field, and was most widely practised during the late 19th century.<ref>"The Idea System of the Early Comparative Grammarians." {{Cite book |last=Amsterdamska |first=Olga |title=Schools of Thought: The Development of Linguistics from Bopp to Saussure |publisher=Springer, Dordrecht |year=1987 |isbn=978-94-009-3759-8 |pages=32–62 |chapter=The Idea System of the Early Comparative Grammarians |doi=10.1007/978-94-009-3759-8_2 |access-date=12 December 2020 |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-009-3759-8_2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415012142/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-009-3759-8_2 |archive-date=15 April 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> Despite a shift in focus in the 20th century towards [[Formalism (linguistics)|formalism]] and [[generative grammar]], which studies the [[universal grammar|universal]] properties of language, historical research today still remains a significant field of linguistic inquiry. Subfields of the discipline include [[language change]] and [[grammaticalization]].
Historical linguistics studies language change either diachronically (through a comparison of different time periods in the past and present) or in a [[synchronic linguistics|synchronic]] manner (by observing developments between different variations that exist within the current linguistic stage of a language).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Saussure |first1=Ferdinand |title=Course in General Linguistics |pages=101 |edition=Third |url=https://simondlevy.academic.wlu.edu/files/courses/anth252f2006/saussure.pdf |access-date=23 October 2024}}</ref>
At first, historical linguistics was the cornerstone of [[comparative linguistics]], which involves a study of the relationship between different languages.<ref name="Routledge introduction">"Editors' Introduction: Foundations of the new historical linguistics." In: ''The Routledge Handbook of Historical Linguistics'' Routledge p. 25.</ref> At that time, scholars of historical linguistics were only concerned with creating different categories of [[Language family|language families]], and reconstructing [[Prehistory|prehistoric]] proto-languages by using both the [[comparative method]] and the method of [[internal reconstruction]]. Internal reconstruction is the method by which an element that contains a certain meaning is re-used in different contexts or environments where there is a variation in either sound or analogy.<ref name="Routledge introduction" />{{better source needed|date=December 2020}}
The reason for this had been to describe well-known [[Indo-European languages]], many of which had detailed documentation and long written histories. Scholars of historical linguistics also studied [[Uralic languages]], another European language family for which very little written material existed back then. After that, there also followed significant work on the [[Text corpus|corpora]] of other languages, such as the [[Austronesian languages]] and the [[Native American language|Native American language families]].
In historical work, the [[Uniformitarian Principle (linguistics)|uniformitarian principle]] is generally the underlying working hypothesis, occasionally also clearly expressed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Labov |first=William |title=Principles of Linguistic Change, Volume 1: Internal Factors |publisher=Blackwell |year=1994 |___location=Malden, MA |pages=21–23}}</ref> The principle was expressed early by [[William Dwight Whitney]], who considered it imperative, a "must", of historical linguistics to "look to find the same principle operative also in the very outset of that [language] history."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Whitney |first=William Dwight |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LOANAAAAYAAJ&q=Continuous |title=Language and the Study of Language |publisher=Scribener |year=1867 |pages=428}}</ref>
The above approach of comparativism in linguistics is now, however, only a small part of the much broader discipline called historical linguistics. The comparative study of specific Indo-European languages is considered a highly specialized field today, while comparative research is carried out over the subsequent internal developments in a language: in particular, over the development of modern standard varieties of languages, and over the development of a language from its standardized form to its varieties.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}
For instance, some scholars also tried to establish [[Macrofamily|super-families]], linking, for example, Indo-European, Uralic, and other language families to a hypothetical [[Nostratic languages|Nostratic language group]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Quiles |first=Carlos |date=29 December 2019 |title=Early Uralic – Indo-European contacts within Europe |url=https://indo-european.eu/2019/12/early-uralic-indo-european-contacts-within-europe/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707073955/https://indo-european.eu/2019/12/early-uralic-indo-european-contacts-within-europe/ |archive-date=7 July 2022 |access-date=10 June 2022 |website=Indo-European.eu}}</ref> While these attempts are still not widely accepted as credible methods, they provide necessary information to establish relatedness in language change. This is generally hard to find for events long ago, due to the occurrence of chance word resemblances and variations between language groups. A limit of around 10,000 years is often assumed for the functional purpose of conducting research.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Baldi |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Baldi |year=2012 |title=Historical Linguistics and Cognitive Science |url=http://www.personal.psu.edu/ped10/Giuli_Dussias/Publications/External/Baldi_Dussias_Rhesis_2012_GD_09_13_2012.pdf |journal=Rheis, International Journal of Linguistics, Philology and Literature |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=5–27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717020630/http://www.personal.psu.edu/ped10/Giuli_Dussias/Publications/External/Baldi_Dussias_Rhesis_2012_GD_09_13_2012.pdf |archive-date=Jul 17, 2022}} p. 11.</ref> It is also hard to date various proto-languages. Even though several methods are available, these languages can be dated only approximately.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Benj |date=11 August 2019 |title=History of Historical Linguistics Essay on History, Linguistics |url=https://benjaminbarber.org/history-of-historical-linguistics |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002042131/https://benjaminbarber.org/history-of-historical-linguistics/ |archive-date=2 October 2022 |access-date=10 June 2022 |work=Essay Examples}}</ref>
In modern historical linguistics, we examine how languages change over time, focusing on the relationships between dialects within a specific period. This includes studying morphological, syntactical, and phonetic shifts. Connections between dialects in the past and present are also explored.<ref name="Acadmia Morphology">{{Cite journal |last=Fábregas |first=Antonio |date=January 2005 |title=The definition of the grammatical category in a syntactically oriented morphology |url=https://www.academia.edu/529248 |url-status=live |journal=Unpublished Ph. D. Dissertation. Madrid: Universidad Autónoma |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210114350/https://www.academia.edu/529248 |archive-date=10 February 2023 |access-date=10 June 2022}}</ref>
===Syntax===
{{main|Syntax}}
Syntax is the study of how words and [[morpheme]]s combine to form larger units such as [[phrase]]s and [[sentence (linguistics)|sentence]]s. Central concerns of syntax include [[word order]], [[grammatical relations]], [[constituent (linguistics)|constituency]],<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Syntax–Semantics Interface |encyclopedia=International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences |publisher=Elsevier |___location=Amsterdam |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304194021 |last=Luuk |first=Erkki |date=2015 |editor-last=Wright |editor-first=James D. |edition=2nd |pages=900–905 |language=en |doi=10.1016/b978-0-08-097086-8.57035-4 |isbn=978-0-08-097087-5}}</ref> [[agreement (linguistics)|agreement]], the nature of crosslinguistic variation, and the relationship between form and meaning. There are numerous approaches to syntax that differ in their central assumptions and goals.
=== Morphology ===
{{main|Morphology (linguistics)}}
Morphology is the study of [[word]]s, including the principles by which they are formed, and how they relate to one another within a language.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Stephen R. |title=Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science |date=n.d. |publisher=Macmillan Reference, Ltd., Yale University |chapter=Morphology |access-date=30 July 2016 |chapter-url=http://cowgill.ling.yale.edu/sra/morphology_ecs.htm}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Aronoff |first1=Mark |title=What is Morphology? |last2=Fudeman |first2=Kirsten |date=n.d. |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |chapter=Morphology and Morphological Analysis |access-date=30 July 2016 |chapter-url=http://www.ucd.ie/artspgs/introling/Aronoffmorphology.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227235159/https://www.ucd.ie/artspgs/introling/Aronoffmorphology.pdf |archive-date=27 February 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Most approaches to morphology investigate the structure of words in terms of ''[[morpheme]]s'', which are the smallest units in a language with some independent [[Meaning (linguistics)|meaning]]. Morphemes include [[root (linguistics)|root]]s that can exist as words by themselves, but also categories such as [[affix]]es that can only appear as part of a larger word. For example, in English the root ''catch'' and the suffix ''-ing'' are both morphemes; ''catch'' may appear as its own word, or it may be combined with ''-ing'' to form the new word ''catching''. Morphology also analyzes how words behave as [[parts of speech]], and how they may be [[inflected]] to express [[grammatical categories]] including [[Grammatical number|number]], [[Grammatical tense|tense]], and [[Grammatical aspect|aspect]]. Concepts such as [[Productivity (linguistics)|productivity]] are concerned with how speakers create words in specific contexts, which evolves over the history of a language.
The discipline that deals specifically with the sound changes occurring within morphemes is [[morphophonology]].
=== Semantics and pragmatics ===
{{main|Semantics|Pragmatics}}
Semantics and pragmatics are branches of linguistics concerned with meaning. These subfields have traditionally been divided according to aspects of meaning: "semantics" refers to grammatical and lexical meanings, while "pragmatics" is concerned with meaning in context. Within linguistics, the subfield of [[formal semantics (natural language)|formal semantics]] studies the [[denotation]]s of sentences and how they are [[compositionality|composed]] from the meanings of their constituent expressions. Formal semantics draws heavily on [[philosophy of language]] and uses formal tools from logic and [[computer science]]. On the other hand, [[cognitive semantics]] explains linguistic meaning via aspects of general cognition, drawing on ideas from cognitive science such as [[prototype theory]].
Pragmatics focuses on phenomena such as [[speech act]]s, [[implicature]], and [[Conversation analysis|talk in interaction]].<ref name="Mey">Mey, Jacob L. (1993). ''Pragmatics: An Introduction''. Oxford: Blackwell (2nd ed. 2001).</ref> Unlike semantics, which examines meaning that is conventional or "coded" in a given language, pragmatics studies how the transmission of meaning depends not only on the structural and linguistic knowledge (grammar, lexicon, etc.) of the speaker and listener, but also on the context of the utterance,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Meaning (Semantics and Pragmatics) {{!}} Linguistic Society of America |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/meaning-semantics-and-pragmatics |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924233822/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/meaning-semantics-and-pragmatics |archive-date=24 September 2017 |access-date=25 August 2017 |website=www.linguisticsociety.org}}</ref> any pre-existing knowledge about those involved, the inferred intent of the speaker, and other factors.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shaozhong |first=Liu |title=What is pragmatics? |url=http://www.gxnu.edu.cn/Personal/szliu/definition.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090307222541/http://www.gxnu.edu.cn/Personal/szliu/definition.html |archive-date=7 March 2009 |access-date=18 March 2009}}</ref>
=== Phonetics and phonology ===
{{main|Phonetics|Phonology}}
Phonetics and phonology are branches of linguistics concerned with sounds (or the equivalent aspects of sign languages). Phonetics is largely concerned with the physical aspects of sounds such as their [[Articulatory phonetics|articulation]], acoustics, production, and perception. [[Phonology]] is concerned with the linguistic abstractions and categorizations of sounds, and it tells us what sounds are in a language, how they do and can combine into words, and explains why certain phonetic features are important to identifying a word.<ref>{{Citation |last=Szczegielniak |first=Adam |title=Introduction to Linguistic Theory – Phonology: The Sound Patterns of Language |url=https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/adam/files/phonology.ppt.pdf |access-date=11 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322153405/https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/adam/files/phonology.ppt.pdf |archive-date=22 March 2023 |url-status=live |publisher=Harvard University}}</ref>
=== Typology ===
{{excerpt|Linguistic typology|only=paragraph}}
== Structures ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2019}}
Linguistic structures are pairings of meaning and form. Any particular pairing of meaning and form is a [[Ferdinand de Saussure|Saussurean]] [[Sign (semiotics)|linguistic sign]]. For instance, the meaning "cat" is represented worldwide with a wide variety of different sound patterns (in oral languages), movements of the hands and face (in [[sign language]]s), and written symbols (in written languages). Linguistic patterns have proven their importance for the [[knowledge engineering]] field especially with the ever-increasing amount of available data.
Linguists focusing on structure attempt to understand the rules regarding language use that native speakers know (not always consciously). All linguistic structures can be broken down into component parts that are combined according to (sub)conscious rules, over multiple levels of analysis. For instance, consider the structure of the word "tenth" on two different levels of analysis. On the level of internal word structure (known as morphology), the word "tenth" is made up of one linguistic form indicating a number and another form indicating ordinality. The rule governing the combination of these forms ensures that the ordinality marker "th" follows the number "ten." On the level of sound structure (known as phonology), structural analysis shows that the "n" sound in "tenth" is made differently from the "n" sound in "ten" spoken alone. Although most speakers of English are consciously aware of the rules governing internal structure of the word pieces of "tenth", they are less often aware of the rule governing its sound structure. Linguists focused on structure find and analyze rules such as these, which govern how native speakers use language.
=== Grammar ===
Grammar is a system of rules which governs the production and use of utterances in a given language. These rules apply to sound<ref>All references in this article to the study of sound should be taken to include the manual and non-manual signs used in sign languages.</ref> as well as meaning, and include componential subsets of rules, such as those pertaining to [[phonology]] (the organization of phonetic sound systems), [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] (the formation and composition of words), and [[syntax]] (the formation and composition of phrases and sentences).<ref name="akmajian">{{Cite book |last1=Akmajian, Adrian |url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/examrequest.asp?ttype=2&tid=12240 |title=Linguistics |last2=Richard A. Demers |last3=Ann K. Farmer |last4=Robert M. Harnish |publisher=The MIT Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-262-51370-8 |edition=6th |access-date=25 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121214215844/http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/examrequest.asp?ttype=2&tid=12240 |archive-date=14 December 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Modern [[Grammar#Theoretical frameworks|frameworks that deal with the principles of grammar]] include [[structural linguistics|structural]] and [[functional linguistics]], and [[generative linguistics]].<ref>''Syntax: A Generative Introduction'' (2nd ed.), 2013. Andrew Carnie. Blackwell Publishing.</ref>
Sub-fields that focus on a grammatical study of language include the following:
* '''[[Phonetics]]''', the study of the physical properties of speech sound production and perception, and delves into their acoustic and [[Articulatory phonetics|articulatory]] properties
* '''[[Phonology]]''', the study of sounds as abstract elements in the speaker's mind that distinguish meaning ([[phonemes]])
* '''[[Morphology (linguistics)|Morphology]]''', the study of morphemes, or the internal structures of words and how they can be modified
* '''[[Syntax]]''', the study of how words combine to form grammatical phrases and [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentences]]
* '''[[Semantics]]''', the study of lexical and grammatical aspects of meaning<ref name="Meaning and Grammar: An Introductio">{{Cite book |last1=Chierchia, Gennaro |title=Meaning and Grammar: An Introduction to Semantics |last2=Sally McConnell-Ginet |publisher=MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-262-53164-1 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref>
* '''[[Pragmatics]]''', the study of how [[utterance]]s are used in [[speech acts|communicative acts]], and the role played by situational context and non-linguistic knowledge in the transmission of meaning<ref name="Meaning and Grammar: An Introductio" />
* '''[[Discourse analysis]]''', the analysis of language use in [[Text (literary theory)|texts]] (spoken, written, or signed)
* '''[[Stylistics (field of study)|Stylistics]]''', the study of linguistic factors (rhetoric, diction, stress) that place a discourse in context
* '''[[Semiotics]]''', the study of signs and sign processes (semiosis), indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication
=== Discourse ===
Discourse is language as social practice (Baynham, 1995) and is a multilayered concept. As a social practice, discourse embodies different ideologies through written and spoken texts. Discourse analysis can examine or expose these ideologies. Discourse not only influences genre, which is selected based on specific contexts but also, at a micro level, shapes language as text (spoken or written) down to the phonological and lexico-grammatical levels. Grammar and discourse are linked as parts of a system.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ariel |first=Mira |year=2009 |title=Discourse, grammar, discourse |journal=Discourse Studies |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=5–36 |doi=10.1177/1461445608098496 |jstor=24049745 |s2cid=62686879}}</ref> A particular discourse becomes a language variety when it is used in this way for a particular purpose, and is referred to as a [[register (sociolinguistics)|register]].<ref>Leckie-Tarry, Helen (1995). ''Language and Context: a Functional Linguistic Theory of Register'', Continuum International Publishing Group, p. 6. {{ISBN|1-85567-272-3}}</ref> There may be certain lexical additions (new words) that are brought into play because of the expertise of the community of people within a certain ___domain of specialization. Thus, registers and discourses distinguish themselves not only through specialized vocabulary but also, in some cases, through distinct stylistic choices. People in the medical fraternity, for example, may use some medical terminology in their communication that is specialized to the field of medicine. This is often referred to as being part of the "medical discourse", and so on.
=== Lexicon ===
The lexicon is a catalogue of words and terms that are stored in a speaker's mind. The lexicon consists of words and [[bound morphemes]], which are parts of words that can not stand alone, like [[affixes]]. In some analyses, compound words and certain classes of idiomatic expressions and other collocations are also considered to be part of the lexicon. Dictionaries represent attempts at listing, in alphabetical order, the lexicon of a given language; usually, however, bound morphemes are not included. [[Lexicography]], closely linked with the ___domain of semantics, is the science of mapping the words into an encyclopedia or a dictionary. The creation and addition of new words (into the lexicon) is called coining or [[neologization]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zuckermann |first=Ghil'ad |author-link=Ghil'ad Zuckermann |url=http://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9781403917232 |title=Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-4039-1723-2 |pages=2ff |access-date=15 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827112758/http://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9781403917232 |archive-date=27 August 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> and the new words are called [[neologism]]s.
It is often believed that a speaker's capacity for language lies in the quantity of words stored in the lexicon. However, this is often considered a myth by linguists. The capacity for the use of language is considered by many linguists to lie primarily in the ___domain of grammar, and to be linked with [[linguistic competence|competence]], rather than with the growth of vocabulary. Even a very small lexicon is theoretically capable of producing an infinite number of sentences.
[[Vocabulary]] size is relevant as a measure of comprehension. There is general consensus that reading comprehension of a written text in English requires 98% coverage, meaning that the person understands 98% of the words in the text.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schmitt |first=Norbert |last2=Cobb |first2=Tom |last3=Horst |first3=Marlise |last4=Schmitt |first4=Diane |date=April 2017 |title=How much vocabulary is needed to use English? Replication of van Zeeland & Schmitt (2012), Nation (2006) and Cobb (2007) |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0261444815000075/type/journal_article |journal=Language Teaching |language=en |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=212–226 |doi=10.1017/S0261444815000075 |issn=0261-4448}}</ref> The question of how much vocabulary is needed is therefore related to which texts or conversations need to be understood. A common estimate is 6-7,000 [[Word family|word families]] to understand a wide range of conversations and 8-9,000 word families to be able to read a wide range of written texts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nation |first=Paul |date=2006 |title=How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening? |journal=Canadian Modern Language Review |volume=63 |pages=59-82}}</ref>
=== Style ===
[[stylistics (field of study)|Stylistics]] also involves the study of written, signed, or spoken discourse through varying speech communities, genres, and editorial or narrative formats in the mass media.<ref>{{Cite web |title="Stylistics" by Joybrato Mukherjee. Chapter 49. ''Encyclopedia of Linguistics''. |url=http://www.uni-giessen.de/anglistik/ling/Staff/mukherjee/pdfs/Stylistics.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004220434/http://www.uni-giessen.de/anglistik/ling/Staff/mukherjee/pdfs/Stylistics.pdf |archive-date=4 October 2013 |access-date=4 October 2013}}</ref> It involves the study and interpretation of texts for aspects of their linguistic and tonal style. Stylistic analysis entails the analysis of description of particular [[dialects]] and [[register (sociolinguistics)|registers]] used by speech communities. Stylistic features include [[rhetoric]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Richards, I. A. |title=The Philosophy of Rhetoric |publisher=Oxford University Press (New York) |year=1965}}</ref> diction, stress, satire, [[irony]], dialogue, and other forms of phonetic variations. Stylistic analysis can also include the study of language in canonical works of literature, popular fiction, news, advertisements, and other forms of communication in popular culture as well. It is usually seen as a variation in communication that changes from speaker to speaker and community to community. In short, Stylistics is the interpretation of text.
In the 1960s, [[Jacques Derrida]], for instance, further distinguished between speech and writing, by proposing that written language be studied as a linguistic medium of communication in itself.<ref>Derrida, Jacques (1967). ''[[Writing and Difference]]'' and ''[[Of Grammatology]]''.</ref> [[Palaeography]] is therefore the discipline that studies the evolution of written scripts (as signs and symbols) in language.<ref>Chapter 1, section 1.1 in {{Cite book |last=Antonsen, Elmer H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gvSi3JVNRFQC |title=Trends in Linguistics: Runes and Germanic Linguistics |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |year=2002 |isbn=978-3-11-017462-5 |edition=6th}}</ref> The formal study of language also led to the growth of fields like [[psycholinguistics]], which explores the representation and function of language in the mind; [[neurolinguistics]], which studies language processing in the brain; [[biolinguistics]], which studies the biology and evolution of language; and [[language acquisition]], which investigates how children and adults acquire the knowledge of one or more languages.
== Approaches ==
{{See also|Theory of language}}
=== Humanistic ===
The fundamental principle of humanistic linguistics, especially rational and [[logical grammar]], is that language is an invention created by people. A semiotic tradition of linguistic research considers language a [[sign system]] which arises from the interaction of meaning and form.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nöth |first=Winfried |author-link=Winfried Nöth |title=Handbook of Semiotics |date=1990 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-20959-7}}</ref> The organization of linguistic levels is considered computational.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hjelmslev |first=Louis |author-link=Louis Hjelmslev |title=Prolegomena to a Theory of Language |date=1969 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=0-299-02470-9 |orig-year=First published 1943}}</ref> Linguistics is essentially seen as relating to [[Sociology|social]] and [[Cultural anthropology|cultural studies]] because different languages are shaped in [[social interaction]] by the [[speech community]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=de Saussure |first=Ferdinand |author-link=Ferdinand de Saussure |url=https://monoskop.org/images/0/0b/Saussure_Ferdinand_de_Course_in_General_Linguistics_1959.pdf |title=Course in General Linguistics |date=1959 |publisher=The Philosophical Library, Inc. |isbn=978-0-231-15727-8 |___location=New York |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808231716/https://monoskop.org/images/0/0b/Saussure_Ferdinand_de_Course_in_General_Linguistics_1959.pdf |archive-date=8 August 2019 |orig-year=First published 1916}}</ref> Frameworks representing the [[humanistic]] view of language include [[structural linguistics]], among others.<ref name="humanistic">{{Cite journal |last=Austin |first=Patrik |date=2021 |title=Theory of language: a taxonomy |journal=SN Social Sciences |volume=1 |issue=3 |doi=10.1007/s43545-021-00085-x |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free |hdl=10138/349772}}</ref>
Structural analysis means dissecting each linguistic level: phonetic, morphological, syntactic, and discourse, to the smallest units. These are collected into inventories (e.g. phoneme, morpheme, lexical classes, phrase types) to study their interconnectedness within a hierarchy of structures and layers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schäfer |first=Roland |url=https://www.oapen.org/download?type=document&docid=620310 |title=Einführung in die grammatische Beschreibung des Deutschen (2nd ed.) |date=2016 |publisher=Language Science Press |isbn=978-1-537504-95-7 |___location=Berlin |access-date=16 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728232919/http://oapen.org/download?type=document&docid=620310 |archive-date=28 July 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> Functional analysis adds to structural analysis the assignment of semantic and other functional roles that each unit may have. For example, a noun phrase may function as the subject or object of the sentence; or the [[agent (grammar)|agent]] or [[patient (grammar)|patient]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Halliday |first1=M. A. K. |author-link=M. A. K. Halliday |url=http://www.uel.br/projetos/ppcat/pages/arquivos/RESOURCES/2004_HALLIDAY_MATTHIESSEN_An_Introduction_to_Functional_Grammar.pdf |title=An Introduction to Functional Grammar (3rd ed.) |last2=Matthiessen |first2=Christian M. I. M. |date=2004 |publisher=Hodder |isbn=0-340-76167-9 |___location=London |access-date=16 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303145809/http://www.uel.br/projetos/ppcat/pages/arquivos/RESOURCES/2004_HALLIDAY_MATTHIESSEN_An_Introduction_to_Functional_Grammar.pdf |archive-date=3 March 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[Functional linguistics]], or functional grammar, is a branch of structural linguistics. In the humanistic reference, the terms [[structuralism]] and [[Structural functionalism|functionalism]] are related to their meaning in other [[human sciences]]. The difference between formal and functional structuralism lies in the way that the two approaches explain why languages have the properties they have. Functional [[explanation]] entails the idea that language is a tool for communication, or that communication is the primary function of language. Linguistic forms are consequently explained by an appeal to their functional value, or usefulness. Other structuralist approaches take the perspective that form follows from the inner mechanisms of the bilateral and multilayered language system.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Daneš |first=František |title=Functionalism in Linguistics |date=1987 |publisher=John Benjamins |isbn=978-90-272-1524-6 |editor-last=Dirven |editor-first=R. |pages=3–38 |chapter=On Prague school functionalism in linguistics |editor-last2=Fried |editor-first2=V.}}</ref>
=== Biological ===
{{further|Biolinguistics|Biosemiotics}}
Approaches such as [[cognitive linguistics]] and [[generative grammar]] study linguistic [[cognition]] with a view towards uncovering the [[biology|biological]] underpinnings of language. In [[Generative Grammar]], these underpinning are understood as including [[Linguistic nativism|innate]] [[___domain-specific]] grammatical knowledge. Thus, one of the central concerns of the approach is to discover what aspects of linguistic knowledge are innate and which are not.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Everaert |first1=Martin |last2=Huybregts |first2=Marinus A. C. |last3=Chomsky |first3=Noam |last4=Berwick |first4=Robert C. |last5=Bolhuis |first5=Johan J. |year=2015 |title=Structures, not strings: linguistics as part of the cognitive sciences |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283666865 |url-status=live |journal=Trends in Cognitive Sciences |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=729–743 |doi=10.1016/j.tics.2015.09.008 |pmid=26564247 |s2cid=3648651 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426220054/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283666865 |archive-date=26 April 2021 |access-date=5 January 2020 |hdl-access=free |hdl=1874/329610}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Chomsky |first=Noam |author-link=Noam Chomsky |title=The Minimalist Program (2nd ed.) |date=2015 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-52734-7}}</ref>
[[Cognitive linguistics]], in contrast, rejects the notion of innate grammar, and studies how the human mind creates linguistic [[Construction grammar|constructions]] from event [[schema (psychology)|schema]]s,<ref name="Arbib_2015">{{Cite book |last=Arbib |first=Michael A. |title=Handbook of Language Emergence |date=2015 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-34613-6 |editor-last=MacWhinney and O'Grady |pages=81–109 |chapter=Language evolution – an emergentist perspective}}</ref> and the impact of cognitive constraints and [[Cognitive bias|biases]] on human language.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tobin |first=Vera |title=Language and the Creative Mind |date=2014 |publisher=Chicago University Press |isbn=978-90-272-8643-7 |editor-last=Borkent |pages=347–363 |chapter=Where do cognitive biases fit into cognitive linguistics? |chapter-url=http://www.academia.edu/download/37200544/WhereDoCognitiveBiases.pdf}}{{Dead link|date=March 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In cognitive linguistics, language is approached via the [[sense]]s.<ref name="Ibarretxe-Antuñano_2002">{{Cite journal |last=Ibarretxe-Antuñano |first=Iraide |author-link=Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano |date=2002 |title=MIND-AS-BODY as a Cross-linguistic Conceptual Metaphor |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272507067 |url-status=live |journal=Miscelánea |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=93–119 |doi=10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.200210526 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427042118/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272507067_MIND-AS-BODY_as_a_Cross-linguistic_Conceptual_Metaphor |archive-date=27 April 2021 |access-date=2020-07-15}}</ref><ref name="Gibbs&Colston_1995">{{Cite journal |last1=Gibbs |first1=R. W. |last2=Colston |first2=H. |date=1995 |title=The cognitive psychological reality of image schemas and their transformations |journal=Cognitive Linguistics |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=347–378 |doi=10.1515/cogl.1995.6.4.347 |s2cid=144424435}}</ref>
A closely related approach is [[evolutionary linguistics]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pleyer |first1=Michael |last2=Winters |first2=James |year=2014 |title=Integrating cognitive linguistics and language evolution research |url=https://apcz.umk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/THS/article/viewFile/ths-2014-002/4967 |url-status=live |journal=Theoria et Historia Scientiarum |volume=11 |pages=19–44 |doi=10.12775/ths-2014-002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309004449/https://apcz.umk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/THS/article/viewFile/ths-2014-002/4967 |archive-date=9 March 2021 |access-date=16 January 2020 |doi-access=free}}</ref> which includes the study of linguistic units as [[Memetics|cultural replicators]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Vyvyan |title=Cognitive Linguistics. An Introduction |last2=Green |first2=Melanie |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-7486-1831-7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Croft |first=William |author-link=William Croft |year=2008 |title=Evolutionary linguistics |url=http://www.afhalifax.ca/magazine/wp-content/sciences/LaLoiDeGrimm/annurev.anthro.37.081407.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Annual Review of Anthropology |volume=37 |pages=219–234 |doi=10.1146/annurev.anthro.37.081407.085156 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225122332/http://www.afhalifax.ca/magazine/wp-content/sciences/LaLoiDeGrimm/annurev.anthro.37.081407.pdf |archive-date=25 February 2021 |access-date=16 January 2020}}</ref> It is possible to study how language [[Self-replication|replicates]] and [[Adaptation|adapts]] to the [[mind]] of the [[individual]] or the speech community.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cornish |first1=Hanna |author-link=Simon Kirby |last2=Tamariz |first2=Monica |last3=Kirby |first3=Simon |year=2009 |title=Complex adaptive systems and the origins of adaptive structure: what experiments can tell us |url=https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/files/8777212/complex_adaptive_systems.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Language Learning |volume=59 |pages=187–205 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9922.2009.00540.x |s2cid=56199987 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112190847/https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/files/8777212/complex_adaptive_systems.pdf |archive-date=12 November 2020 |access-date=16 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sinnemäki |first1=Kaius |last2=Di Garbo |first2=Francesca |year=2018 |title=Language Structures May Adapt to the Sociolinguistic Environment, but It Matters What and How You Count: A Typological Study of Verbal and Nominal Complexity |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |volume=9 |pages=187–205 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01141 |pmc=6102949 |pmid=30154738 |doi-access=free}}</ref> [[Construction grammar]] is a framework which applies the [[meme]] concept to the study of syntax.<ref name="Dahl_2001">{{Cite journal |last=Dahl |first=Östen |date=2001 |title=Grammaticalization and the life cycles of constructions |journal=RASK – Internationalt Tidsskrift for Sprog og Kommunikation |volume=14 |pages=91–134}}</ref><ref name="Kirby_2013">{{Cite book |last=Kirby |first=Simon |url=http://www.labex-whoami.fr/images/documents/kirby_Labex_JC_paper.pdf |title=The Language Phenomenon |publisher=Springer |year=2013 |isbn=978-3-642-36085-5 |editor-last=Binder |series=The Frontiers Collection |pages=121–138 |chapter=Transitions: The Evolution of Linguistic Replicators |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-36086-2_6 |access-date=2020-03-04 |editor-last2=Smith |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626142916/http://www.labex-whoami.fr/images/documents/kirby_Labex_JC_paper.pdf |archive-date=26 June 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Zehentner_2019">{{Cite book |last=Zehentner |first=Eva |title=Competition in Language Change: the Rise of the English Dative Alternation |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |year=2019 |isbn=978-3-11-063385-6}}</ref><ref name="MacWhinney_2015">{{Cite book |last=MacWhinney |first=Brian |title=Handbook of Language Emergence |date=2015 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-34613-6 |editor-last=MacWhinney |editor-first=Brian |pages=1–31 |chapter=Introduction – language emergence |editor-last2=O'Grady |editor-first2=William}}</ref>
The generative versus evolutionary approach are sometimes called [[Structuralism (biology)|formalism]] and [[Adaptationism|functionalism]], respectively.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nettle |first=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Nettle |title=Functionalism and Formalism in linguistics, 1 |date=1999 |publisher=John Benjamins |isbn=978-1-55619-927-1 |editor-last=Darnell |series=Studies in Language Companion Series |volume=41 |pages=445–468 |chapter=Functionalism and its difficulties in biology and linguistics |doi=10.1075/slcs.41.21net}}</ref> This reference is however different from the use of the terms in [[Humanities|human sciences]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2015 |title=Functional Approaches to Grammar |encyclopedia=International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences |publisher=Elsevier |last=Croft |first=William |author-link=William Croft |edition=2nd |volume=9 |pages=6323–6330 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.53009-8 |isbn=978-0-08-097087-5}}</ref>
== Methodology ==
{{More citations needed section|date=February 2024}}
Modern linguistics is primarily [[descriptive linguistics|descriptive]].<ref name="Martinet">{{Cite book |last=Martinet |first=André |author-link=André Martinet |title=Elements of General Linguistics |publisher=Faber |year=1960 |series=Studies in General Linguistics, vol. i. |___location=London |page=15 |translator-last=Elisabeth Palmer Rubbert}}</ref> Linguists describe and explain features of language without making subjective judgments on whether a particular feature or usage is "good" or "bad". This is analogous to practice in other sciences: a [[zoologist]] studies the animal kingdom without making subjective judgments on whether a particular species is "better" or "worse" than another.
[[Linguistic prescription|Prescription]], on the other hand, is an attempt to promote particular linguistic usages over others, often favoring a particular dialect or "[[acrolect]]". This may have the aim of establishing a [[Standard language|linguistic standard]], which can aid communication over large geographical areas. It may also, however, be an attempt by speakers of one language or dialect to exert influence over speakers of other languages or dialects (see [[Linguistic imperialism]]). An extreme version of prescriptivism can be found among [[censorship|censors]], who attempt to eradicate words and structures that they consider to be destructive to society. Prescription, however, may be practised appropriately in [[language education|language instruction]], like in [[English language teaching|ELT]], where certain fundamental grammatical rules and lexical items need to be introduced to a second-language speaker who is attempting to [[language acquisition|acquire]] the language.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}
=== Sources ===
Most contemporary linguists work under the assumption that [[spoken language|spoken data]] and [[Sign language|signed data]] are more fundamental than [[written language|written data]]. This is because
* Speech appears to be universal to all human beings capable of producing and perceiving it, while there have been many cultures and speech communities that lack written communication;
* Features appear in speech which are not always recorded in writing, including [[phonological rule]]s, [[sound change]]s, and [[speech error]]s;
* All natural writing systems reflect a spoken language (or potentially a signed one), even with [[pictographic]] scripts like [[Dongba]] writing [[Naxi language|Naxi]] [[homophone]]s with the same pictogram, and text in writing systems used for two languages changing to fit the spoken language being recorded;
* Speech evolved before human beings invented writing;
* Individuals learn to speak and process spoken language more easily and earlier than they do with writing.
Nonetheless, linguists agree that the study of written language can be worthwhile and valuable. For research that relies on [[corpus linguistics]] and [[computational linguistics]], written language is often much more convenient for processing large amounts of linguistic data. Large corpora of spoken language are difficult to create and hard to find, and are typically [[transcription (linguistics)|transcribed]] and written. In addition, linguists have turned to text-based discourse occurring in various formats of [[computer-mediated communication]] as a viable site for linguistic inquiry.
The study of writing systems themselves, graphemics, is, in any case, considered a branch of linguistics.
=== Analysis ===
Before the 20th century, linguists analysed language on a [[diachronic linguistics|diachronic]] plane, which was historical in focus. This meant that they would compare linguistic features and try to analyse language from the point of view of how it had changed between then and later. However, with the rise of Saussurean linguistics in the 20th century, the focus shifted to a more [[synchronic linguistics|synchronic]] approach, where the study was geared towards analysis and comparison between different language variations, which existed at the same given point of time.
At another level, the [[syntagmatic analysis|syntagmatic]] plane of linguistic analysis entails the comparison between the way words are sequenced, within the syntax of a sentence. For example, the article "the" is followed by a noun, because of the syntagmatic relation between the words. The [[paradigmatic analysis|paradigmatic]] plane, on the other hand, focuses on an analysis that is based on the paradigms or concepts that are embedded in a given text. In this case, words of the same type or class may be replaced in the text with each other to achieve the same conceptual understanding.
== History ==
{{main|History of linguistics}}
The earliest activities in the [[linguistic description|description of language]] have been attributed to the 6th-century BC Indian grammarian [[Pāṇini]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=[[Rens Bod]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KaOcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 |title=A New History of the Humanities: The Search for Principles and Patterns from Antiquity to the Present |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-19-966521-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Imperial Gazetteer of India |date=1908 |volume=2 |page=263 |chapter=Chapter VI: Sanskrit Literature |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/imperialgazette02hunt}}</ref> who composed a [[Formal grammar|formal description]] of the [[Sanskrit|Sanskrit language]] in his {{IAST|[[Aṣṭādhyāyī]]}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aṣṭādhyāyī 2.0 |url=http://panini.phil.hhu.de/panini/panini/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415005527/http://panini.phil.hhu.de/panini/panini/ |archive-date=15 April 2021 |access-date=2021-02-27 |website=panini.phil.hhu.de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=S.C. Vasu (Tr.) |url=http://www.vedicbooks.net/ashtadhyayi-panini-vols-p-2313.html |title=The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (2 Vols.) |publisher=Vedic Books |year=1996 |isbn=978-81-208-0409-8 |access-date=17 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327172935/http://www.vedicbooks.net/ashtadhyayi-panini-vols-p-2313.html |archive-date=27 March 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> Today, modern-day theories on [[generative grammar|grammar]] employ many of the principles that were laid down then.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Penn |first1=Gerald |last2=Kiparski |first2=Paul |title=On Panini and the Generative Capacity of Contextualised Replacement Systems |url=https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/C12-2092.pdf |journal=Proceedings of COLING 2012 |pages=943–950 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415005455/https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/C12-2092.pdf |archive-date=15 April 2021}}</ref>
=== Nomenclature ===
Before the 20th century, the term ''[[philology]]'', first attested in 1716,<ref name="Etymonline Definition of Philology">{{OEtymD|philology|accessdate=5 March 2018}}</ref> was commonly used to refer to the study of language, which was then predominantly historical in focus.<ref name="Nichols 65-1">{{Cite journal |last=Nichols |first=Stephen G. |year=1990 |title=Introduction: Philology in a Manuscript Culture |journal=Speculum |volume=65 |pages=1–10 |doi=10.2307/2864468 |jstor=2864468 |s2cid=154631850 |number=1}}</ref><ref name="Understanding">{{Cite book |last=McMahon |first=A.M.S. |title=Understanding Language Change |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-521-44665-5 |pages=9, 19}}</ref> Since [[Ferdinand de Saussure]]'s insistence on the importance of [[synchronic analysis (linguistics)|synchronic analysis]], however, this focus has shifted<ref name="Understanding" /> and the term ''philology'' is now generally used for the "study of a language's grammar, history, and literary tradition", especially in the United States<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morpurgo Davies |first=A. |title=Nineteenth-Century Linguistics |date=1998 |series=History of Linguistics |volume=4}}</ref> (where philology has never been very popularly considered as the "science of language").<ref name="Etymonline Definition of Philology" />
Although the term ''linguist'' in the sense of "a student of language" dates from 1641,<ref name="etymonline linguist" /> the term ''linguistics'' is first attested in 1847.<ref name="etymonline linguist">{{OEtymD|linguist|accessdate=5 March 2018}}</ref> It is now the usual term in English for the scientific study of language,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shahhoseiny |first=Hajar |year=2013 |title=Differences between Language and Linguistic in the ELT Classroom |url=https://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/tpls/vol03/12/12.pdf |access-date=December 10, 2023 |publisher=Theory and Practice in Language Studies}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=What is Linguistics? |url=https://www.bcu.ac.uk/english/news/blog/what-is-linguistics |access-date=December 10, 2023 |website=Birmingham City University}}</ref> though ''linguistic science'' is sometimes used.
Linguistics is a [[Interdisciplinarity|multi-disciplinary]] field of research that combines tools from natural sciences, social sciences, [[formal science]]s, and the humanities.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Spolsky |first1=Bernard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8nc6nRRbMSQC&pg=PA13 |title=The Handbook of Educational Linguistics |last2=Hult |first2=Francis M. |date=February 2010 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4443-3104-2 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Berns |first=Margie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EUMqGSbeEXAC&pg=PA23 |title=Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics |date=20 March 2010 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-08-096503-1 |pages=23–25 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Science of Linguistics |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/science-linguistics |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417192211/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/science-linguistics |archive-date=17 April 2018 |access-date=17 April 2018 |website=Linguistic Society of America |quote=Modern linguists approach their work with a scientific perspective, although they use methods that used to be thought of as solely an academic discipline of the humanities. Contrary to previous belief, linguistics is multidisciplinary. It overlaps each of the human sciences including psychology, neurology, anthropology, and sociology. Linguists conduct formal studies of sound structure, grammar and meaning, but they also investigate the history of language families, and research language acquisition.}}</ref><ref>Behme, Christina; Neef, Martin. ''[https://philarchive.org/rec/PITWKO Essays on Linguistic Realism]'' (2018). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 7–20</ref> Many linguists, such as David Crystal, conceptualize the field as being primarily scientific.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crystal |first=David |author-link=David Crystal |title=Linguistics |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-14-013531-2}}</ref> The term ''linguist'' applies to someone who studies language or is a researcher within the field, or to someone who uses the tools of the discipline to describe and analyse specific languages.<ref name="American Heritage 2000">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2000 |title=Linguist |encyclopedia=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |url=https://archive.org/details/americanheritage0000unse_a1o7 |isbn=978-0-395-82517-4}}</ref>
=== Early grammarians ===
{{further|Philology|Grammarian (Greco-Roman)}}
An early formal study of language was undertaken in India by the 6th-century BC grammarian [[Pāṇini]], who formulated 3,959 rules of Sanskrit [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]]. Pāṇini's systematic classification of the sounds of [[Sanskrit]] into consonants and vowels, and word classes, such as nouns and verbs, was the first known instance of its kind. In the Middle East, [[Sibawayh]], a Persian, made a detailed description of Arabic in AD 760 in his monumental work, ''Al-kitab fii an-naħw'' ({{lang|ar|الكتاب في النحو}}, ''The Book on Grammar''), the first known author to distinguish between [[phonetics|sounds]] and [[phonology|phonemes (sounds as units of a linguistic system)]]. Western interest in the study of languages began somewhat later than in the East,<ref>{{harvnb|Bloomfield|1983|p=307}}.</ref> but the grammarians of the classical languages did not use the same methods or reach the same conclusions as their contemporaries in the Indic world. Early interest in language in the West was a part of philosophy, not of grammatical description. The first insights into semantic theory were made by [[Plato]] in his [[Cratylus (dialogue)|''Cratylus'' dialogue]], where he argues that words denote concepts that are eternal and exist in the world of ideas. This work is the first to use the word etymology to describe the history of a word's meaning. Around 280 BC, one of [[Alexander the Great]]'s successors founded a university (see [[Musaeum]]) in [[Alexandria]], where a school of philologists studied the ancient texts in Greek, and taught Greek to speakers of other languages. While this school was the first to use the word "grammar" in its modern sense, Plato had used the word in its original meaning as "[[Art of Grammar|téchnē grammatikḗ]]" ({{script|Greek|Τέχνη Γραμματική}}), the "art of writing", which is also the title of one of the most important works of the Alexandrine school by [[Dionysius Thrax]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Seuren, Pieter A. M. |title=Western linguistics: An historical introduction |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-631-20891-4 |pages=2–24}}</ref> Throughout the [[Middle Ages]], the study of language was subsumed under the topic of philology, the study of ancient languages and texts, practised by such educators as [[Roger Ascham]], [[Wolfgang Ratke]], and [[John Amos Comenius]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bloomfield|1983|p=308}}.</ref>
===Comparative philology===
In the 18th century, the first use of the [[comparative method]] by [[William Jones (philologist)|William Jones]] sparked the rise of [[comparative linguistics]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bloomfield|1983|p=310}}.</ref> Bloomfield attributes "the first great scientific linguistic work of the world" to [[Jacob Grimm]], who wrote ''Deutsche Grammatik''.<ref name="Bloomfield 1914 311">{{harvnb|Bloomfield|1983|p=311}}.</ref> It was soon followed by other authors writing similar comparative studies on other language groups of Europe. The study of language was broadened from [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] to language in general by [[Wilhelm von Humboldt]], of whom Bloomfield asserts:<ref name="Bloomfield 1914 311" />
{{blockquote|This study received its foundation at the hands of the Prussian statesman and scholar Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835), especially in the first volume of his work on Kavi, the literary language of Java, entitled ''{{lang|de|Über die Verschiedenheit des menschlichen Sprachbaues und ihren Einfluß auf die geistige Entwickelung des Menschengeschlechts}}'' (''On the Variety of the Structure of Human Language and its Influence upon the Mental Development of the Human Race'').}}
=== 20th-century developments ===
There was a shift of focus from historical and comparative linguistics to synchronic analysis in early 20th century. Structural analysis was improved by [[Leonard Bloomfield]], [[Louis Hjelmslev]]; and [[Zellig Harris]] who also developed methods of [[discourse analysis]]. Functional analysis was developed by the [[Prague linguistic circle]] and [[André Martinet]]. As sound recording devices became commonplace in the 1960s, dialectal recordings were made and archived, and the [[audio-lingual method]] provided a technological solution to foreign language learning. The 1960s also saw a new rise of comparative linguistics: the study of [[language universals]] in [[linguistic typology]]. Towards the end of the century the field of linguistics became divided into further areas of interest with the advent of [[language technology]] and digitalized [[corpus linguistics|corpora]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jensen |first=Kim Ebensgaard |date=December 19, 2014 |title=Linguistics in the digital humanities: (computational) corpus linguistics |url=https://tidsskrift.dk/mediekultur/article/view/15968 |journal=MedieKultur: Journal of Media and Communication Research |volume=30 |issue=57 |doi=10.7146/mediekultur.v30i57.15968 |access-date=December 10, 2023 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=McEnery |first=Tony |year=2019 |title=Corpus Linguistics, Learner Corpora, and SLA: Employing Technology to Analyze Language Use |journal=Annual Review of Applied Linguistics |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=39 |pages=74–92 |doi=10.1017/S0267190519000096 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Hunston |first=S. |title=Corpus Linguistics |date=2006-01-01 |pages=234–248 |editor-last=Brown |editor-first=Keith |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0080448542009445 |access-date=2023-10-31 |place=Oxford |publisher=Elsevier |doi=10.1016/b0-08-044854-2/00944-5 |isbn=978-0-08-044854-1 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics (Second Edition)|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
== Areas of research ==
{{more citations needed|section|date=August 2021}}
=== Sociolinguistics ===
{{main|Sociolinguistics}}
Sociolinguistics is the study of how language is shaped by social factors. This sub-discipline focuses on the synchronic approach of linguistics, and looks at how a language in general, or a set of languages, display variation and varieties at a given point in time. The study of language variation and the different varieties of language through dialects, registers, and idiolects can be tackled through a study of style, as well as through analysis of discourse. Sociolinguists research both style and discourse in language, as well as the theoretical factors that are at play between language and society.
=== Developmental linguistics ===
{{main|Developmental linguistics}}
Developmental linguistics is the study of the development of linguistic ability in individuals, particularly [[Language acquisition|the acquisition of language]] in childhood. Some of the questions that developmental linguistics looks into are how children acquire different languages, how adults can acquire a second language, and what the process of language acquisition is.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bailey |first=Charles-James N. |date=1981-01-01 |title=Developmental Linguistics |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/flin.1981.15.1-2.29/html |journal=Folia Linguistica |language=en |volume=15 |issue=1–2 |pages=29–38 |doi=10.1515/flin.1981.15.1-2.29 |issn=1614-7308|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
=== Neurolinguistics ===
{{main|Neurolinguistics}}
Neurolinguistics is the study of the structures in the human brain that underlie grammar and communication. Researchers are drawn to the field from a variety of backgrounds, bringing along a variety of experimental techniques as well as widely varying theoretical perspectives. Much work in neurolinguistics is informed by models in [[psycholinguistics]] and [[theoretical linguistics]], and is focused on investigating how the brain can implement the processes that theoretical and psycholinguistics propose are necessary in producing and comprehending language. Neurolinguists study the physiological mechanisms by which the brain processes information related to language, and evaluate linguistic and psycholinguistic theories, using [[aphasiology]], [[brain imaging]], electrophysiology, and computer modelling. Amongst the structures of the brain involved in the mechanisms of neurolinguistics, the cerebellum which contains the highest numbers of neurons has a major role in terms of predictions required to produce language.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mariën |first1=Peter |last2=Manto |first2=Mario |date=25 October 2017 |title=Cerebellum as a Master-Piece for Linguistic Predictability |journal=Cerebellum (London, England) |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=101–03 |doi=10.1007/s12311-017-0894-1 |issn=1473-4230 |pmid=29071518 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
=== Applied linguistics ===
{{Main|Applied linguistics}}
Linguists are largely concerned with finding and [[descriptive linguistics|describing]] the generalities and varieties both within particular languages and among all languages. [[Applied linguistics]] takes the results of those findings and "applies" them to other areas. Linguistic research is commonly applied to areas such as [[language education]], [[lexicography]], translation, [[language planning]], which involves governmental policy implementation related to language use, and [[natural language processing]]. "Applied linguistics" has been argued to be something of a misnomer.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barbara Seidlhofer |title=Controversies in Applied Linguistics (pp. 288) |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-19-437444-6}}</ref> Applied linguists actually focus on making sense of and engineering solutions for real-world linguistic problems, and not literally "applying" existing technical knowledge from linguistics. Moreover, they commonly apply technical knowledge from multiple sources, such as sociology (e.g., conversation analysis) and anthropology. ([[Constructed language]] fits under Applied linguistics.)
Today, computers are widely used in many areas of applied linguistics. [[Speech synthesis]] and [[speech recognition]] use phonetic and phonemic knowledge to provide [[voice interface]]s to computers. Applications of [[computational linguistics]] in [[machine translation]], [[computer-assisted translation]], and [[natural language processing]] are areas of applied linguistics that have come to the forefront. Their influence has had an effect on theories of syntax and semantics, as modelling syntactic and semantic theories on computers constraints.
Linguistic analysis is a sub-discipline of applied linguistics used by many governments to verify the claimed nationality of people seeking asylum who do not hold the necessary documentation to prove their claim.<ref name="Linguistic Analysis">{{Cite journal |last=Eades |first=Diana |year=2005 |title=Applied Linguistics and Language Analysis in Asylum Seeker Cases |url=http://songchau.googlepages.com/503.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Applied Linguistics |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=503–26 |doi=10.1093/applin/ami021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327083553/http://songchau.googlepages.com/503.pdf |archive-date=27 March 2009 |access-date=31 January 2009}}</ref> This often takes the form of an interview by personnel in an immigration department. Depending on the country, this interview is conducted either in the asylum seeker's [[native language]] through an [[language interpretation|interpreter]] or in an international ''[[lingua franca]]'' like English.<ref name="Linguistic Analysis" /> Australia uses the former method, while Germany employs the latter; the Netherlands uses either method depending on the languages involved.<ref name="Linguistic Analysis" /> Tape recordings of the interview then undergo language analysis, which can be done either by private contractors or within a department of the government. In this analysis, linguistic features of the asylum seeker are used by analysts to make a determination about the speaker's nationality. The reported findings of the linguistic analysis can play a critical role in the government's decision on the refugee status of the asylum seeker.<ref name="Linguistic Analysis" />
=== Language documentation ===
[[Language documentation]] combines anthropological inquiry (into the history and culture of language) with linguistic inquiry, in order to describe languages and their grammars. [[Lexicography]] involves the documentation of words that form a vocabulary. Such a documentation of a linguistic vocabulary from a particular language is usually compiled in a [[dictionary]]. [[Computational linguistics]] is concerned with the statistical or rule-based modeling of natural language from a computational perspective. Specific knowledge of language is applied by speakers during the act of translation and [[Language interpretation|interpretation]], as well as in [[language education]] – the teaching of a second or [[foreign language]]. Policy makers work with governments to implement new plans in education and teaching which are based on linguistic research.
Since the inception of the discipline of linguistics, linguists have been concerned with describing and analysing previously [[language documentation|undocumented languages]]. Starting with [[Franz Boas]] in the early 1900s, this became the main focus of American linguistics until the rise of [[formal linguistics]] in the mid-20th century. This focus on language documentation was partly motivated by a concern to document the rapidly [[language death|disappearing]] languages of indigenous peoples. The ethnographic dimension of the Boasian approach to language description played a role in the development of disciplines such as [[sociolinguistics]], [[anthropological linguistics]], and [[linguistic anthropology]], which investigate the relations between language, culture, and society.
The emphasis on linguistic description and documentation has also gained prominence outside North America, with the documentation of rapidly dying indigenous languages becoming a focus in some university programs in linguistics. Language description is a work-intensive endeavour, usually requiring years of field work in the language concerned, so as to equip the linguist to write a sufficiently accurate reference grammar. Further, the task of documentation requires the linguist to collect a substantial corpus in the language in question, consisting of texts and recordings, both sound and video, which can be stored in an accessible format within open repositories, and used for further research.<ref>Himmelman, Nikolaus "Language documentation: What is it and what is it good for?" in P. Gippert, Jost, Nikolaus P Himmelmann & Ulrike Mosel. (2006) ''Essentials of Language documentation''. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin & New York.</ref>
=== Translation ===
{{main|Translation|Translation studies}}
The sub-field of translation includes the translation of written and spoken texts across media, from digital to print and spoken. To translate literally means to transmute the meaning from one language into another. Translators are often employed by organizations such as travel agencies and governmental embassies to facilitate communication between two speakers who do not know each other's language. Translators are also employed to work within [[computational linguistics]] setups like [[Google Translate]], which is an automated program to translate words and phrases between any two or more given languages. Translation is also conducted by publishing houses, which convert works of writing from one language to another in order to reach varied audiences. Cross-national and cross-cultural [[Survey methodology|survey research]] studies employ translation to collect comparable data among multilingual populations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Behr |first1=Dorothée |last2=Sha |first2=Mandy |date=2018-07-25 |title=Introduction: Translation of questionnaires in cross-national and cross-cultural research |url=https://www.trans-int.org/index.php/transint/article/view/937 |journal=Translation & Interpreting |language=en |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=1–4 |doi=10.12807/ti.110202.2018.a01 |issn=1836-9324 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pan |first1=Yuling |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780429294914/sociolinguistics-survey-translation-yuling-pan-mandy-sha-hyunjoo-park |title=The Sociolinguistics of Survey Translation |last2=Sha |first2=Mandy |date=2019-07-09 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-29491-4 |___location=London |doi=10.4324/9780429294914 |s2cid=198632812}}</ref> Academic translators specialize in or are familiar with various other disciplines such as technology, science, law, economics, etc.
=== Clinical linguistics ===
{{main|Clinical linguistics}}
Clinical linguistics is the application of linguistic theory to the field of [[speech-language pathology]]. Speech language pathologists work on corrective measures to treat [[communication disorders|communication]] and swallowing disorders.
=== Computational linguistics ===
{{main|Computational linguistics}}
Computational linguistics is the 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 and their implementations. Computational linguists also work on computer language and software development.
=== Evolutionary linguistics ===
{{Main|Evolutionary linguistics}}
Evolutionary linguistics is a [[sociobiology|sociobiological]] approach to analyzing the emergence of the language faculty through human evolution, and also the application of evolutionary theory to the study of cultural evolution among different languages. It is also a study of the dispersal of various languages across the globe, through movements among ancient communities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Croft |first=William |date=October 2008 |title=Evolutionary Linguistics |journal=Annual Review of Anthropology |volume=37 |pages=219–34 |doi=10.1146/annurev.anthro.37.081407.085156}}</ref>
=== Forensic linguistics ===
{{main|Forensic linguistics}}
Forensic linguistics is the application of linguistic analysis to forensics. Forensic analysis investigates the style, language, lexical use, and other linguistic and grammatical features used in the legal context to provide evidence in courts of law. Forensic linguists have also used their expertise in the framework of criminal cases.<ref>Olsson, John. "[https://www.thetext.co.uk/what_is.pdf What is Forensic Linguistics?]" (PDF). ''Forensic Linguistics Intelligence''.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=what is forensic linguistics? |url=http://www.forensiclinguistics.net/cfl_fl.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100927010829/http://www.forensiclinguistics.net/cfl_fl.html |archive-date=2010-09-27 |access-date=2024-02-01 |website=CFL at Aston University}}</ref>
== See also ==
{{portal|Linguistics|Language}}
{{div col}}
* {{Anli|Articulatory phonetics}}
* {{Annotated link |Articulatory synthesis}}
* {{Annotated link |Axiom of categoricity}}
* {{Annotated link |Critical discourse analysis}}
* {{Annotated link |Cryptanalysis}}
* {{Annotated link |Decipherment}}
* {{Annotated link |Global language system}}
* {{Annotated link |Hermeneutics}}
* {{Annotated link |Integrational linguistics}}
* {{Annotated link |Integrationism}}
* {{Annotated link |Interlinguistics}}
* {{Annotated link |Language engineering}}
* {{Annotated link |Language geography}}
* {{Annotated link |Linguistic rights}}
* {{Annotated link |Metalinguistics}}
* {{Annotated link |Meta-communication}}
* {{Annotated link |Microlinguistics}}
* {{Annotated link |Onomastics}}
* {{Annotated link |Reading}}
* {{Annotated link |Speech processing}}
* {{Annotated link |Stratificational linguistics}}
* [[Outline of linguistics|Outline]] and lists
** {{Annotated link |Index of linguistics articles}}
** {{Annotated link |List of departments of linguistics}}
** {{Annotated link |List of summer schools of linguistics}}
** {{Annotated link |List of schools of linguistics}}
{{div col end}}
==
{{Reflist|2}}
== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin|30}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Akmajian, Adrian |title=Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and Communication |last2=Demers, Richard |last3=Farmer, Ann |last4=Harnish, Robert |publisher=The MIT Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-262-51370-8 |___location=Cambridge, MA}}
* {{Cite book |title=The handbook of linguistics |publisher=Blackwell |year=2000 |editor-last=Aronoff, Mark |___location=Oxford |editor-last2=Rees-Miller, Janie}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bloomfield |first=Leonard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MN3YkwOgNYC&pg=PA307 |title=An Introduction to the Study of Language |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |year=1983 |isbn=978-90-272-8047-3 |edition=New |___location=Amsterdam |orig-year=1914}}
* {{Cite book |last=Chomsky |first=Noam |url=https://archive.org/details/onlanguagechomsk00chom |title=On Language |publisher=The New Press, New York |year=1998 |isbn=978-1-56584-475-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Crystal |first=David |title=Linguistics |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-14-013531-2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Derrida |first=Jacques |url=https://archive.org/details/ofgrammatology00derr |title=Of Grammatology |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |year=1967 |isbn=978-0-8018-5830-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hall |first=Christopher |title=An Introduction to Language and Linguistics: Breaking the Language Spell |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8264-8734-6}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Isac |first1=Daniela |url=http://linguistics.concordia.ca/i-language/ |title=I-language: An Introduction to Linguistics as Cognitive Science |last2=Charles Reiss |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-966017-9 |edition=2nd |access-date=17 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706173454/http://linguistics.concordia.ca/i-language/ |archive-date=6 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}
* {{Cite book |last1=McShane |first1=Marjorie |last2=Nirenburg |first2=Sergei |title=Linguistics for the Age of AI |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |year=2021 |isbn=9780262363136 |url=https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5042/Linguistics-for-the-Age-of-AI}}
{{refend}}
== External links ==
{{Library resources box|by=no|onlinebooks=no|wikititle=linguistics}}
* [https://linguistlist.org/ The Linguist List], a global online linguistics community with news and information updated daily
* [https://glossary.sil.org/term Glossary of Linguistic Terms] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250209165226/https://glossary.sil.org/term |date=February 9, 2025 }} by [[SIL International|SIL Global]] (last revised 2003)
* [http://www.glottopedia.org Glottopedia], MediaWiki-based encyclopedia of linguistics, under construction
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071126121113/http://www.lsadc.org/info/ling-fields.cfm Linguistic sub-fields] – according to the Linguistic Society of America
* Linguistics and language-related [[wiki]] articles on [http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Language Scholarpedia] and [http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Linguistics Citizendium]
* [https://personal.unizar.es/garciala/bibliography.html "Linguistics" section] – A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism and Philology, ed. J.A. García Landa (University of Zaragoza, Spain)
* {{Cite book |last1=Isac |first1=Daniela |url=https://archive.org/details/ilanguageintrodu00dani |title=I-language: An Introduction to Linguistics as Cognitive Science |last2=Charles Reiss |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-953420-3 |edition=2nd}}
{{Philosophy of language}}
{{Communication studies}}
{{Social sciences}}
{{Nonverbal communication}}
{{Sister bar|auto=1|d=yes}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Linguistics| ]]
[[Category:Cognitive science]]
[[Category:Communication studies]]
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