11 Scopes or coverage of the study of Linguistics

1. Phonetics (physical sounds)

Definition: The study of the physical production, transmission, and perception of speech sounds. It is concerned with the actual acoustic details and articulatory properties of sounds, regardless of their function in a particular language.


Simple Example: The sound "p" in "spin" and the sound "p" in "pin" are physically different. The first is unaspirated (no puff of air), and the second is aspirated (has a puff of air). Phonetics describes how your lips, tongue, and vocal cords create this difference.
2. Phonology (sound systems)

Definition: The study of how sounds function and pattern within a specific language or languages. It deals with the abstract mental representations of sounds and the rules that govern how they interact (e.g., what sequences are allowed, how sounds change in different contexts).

Simple Example: In English, the "ng" sound [ŋ] (as in "sing") can never appear at the beginning of a word. This is a phonological rule of English. Another example is how the plural "s" is pronounced as /s/ (in "cats"), /z/ (in "dogs"), or /ɪz/ (in "dishes") based on the preceding sound.
3. Morphology (word structure)

Definition: The study of the internal structure of words and the rules for word formation. It analyzes the smallest units of meaning, called morphemes.


Simple Example: The word "unhappiness" can be broken down into three morphemes: the prefix un- (meaning 'not'), the root happy, and the suffix -ness (which turns an adjective into a noun).
4. Syntax (sentence structure)

Definition: The study of the rules and principles that govern how words are combined to form phrases, clauses, and sentences in a language. It is concerned with grammatical structure and word order.


Simple Example: The rules of English syntax tell us that "The cat sat on the mat" is a grammatical sentence, while "Cat the mat on sat" is not. It also explains why we can form a question by moving the auxiliary verb: "Can you help?" instead of "You can help?"
5. Semantics (meaning)

Definition: The study of meaning in language, focusing on the literal, dictionary-type meaning of words, phrases, and sentences. It examines the relationship between linguistic forms (words/sentences) and the things they refer to in the world.


Simple Example: The sentence "The bachelor is married" is semantically anomalous or contradictory because the word "bachelor" semantically means 'an unmarried man'.
6. Pragmatics (meaning in context)

Definition: The study of how context contributes to meaning. It explores how language is used in real-life situations and how listeners infer meaning that isn't explicitly stated.


Simple Example: If someone says, "It's cold in here," the semantic meaning is a statement about the temperature. The pragmatic meaning, depending on the context (e.g., while looking at a closed window), might be a request to close the window or turn up the heat.
7. Sociolinguistics

Definition: The study of the relationship between language and society. It examines how social factors (e.g., region, social class, gender, ethnicity, age) influence the way people use language and how language varieties function in society.


Simple Example: A person might use a different dialect or accent at home with family than they do in a formal job interview. Another example is studying why certain words are considered "prestigious" in some social groups but not in others.
8. Psycholinguistics

Definition: The study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, comprehend, produce, and store language. It is concerned with the mental processes behind language use.


Simple Example: Researching how infants distinguish between all possible human sounds at birth but then specialize in the sounds of their native language within their first year. Another example is studying the "tip-of-the-tongue" phenomenon, where you know a word but can't immediately retrieve it.
9. Anthropological Linguistics

Definition: The study of the relationship between language and culture. It often focuses on documenting and describing endangered languages and understanding how a culture's worldview is reflected in its language.


Simple Example: Studying how the Inuit languages have multiple distinct words for "snow" (e.g., falling snow, snow on the ground, packed snow, etc.), reflecting its cultural importance, whereas English might use a single word with modifiers.
10. Discourse Analysis

Definition: The study of language beyond the sentence level. It analyzes written, spoken, or signed language use (conversations, stories, speeches, texts) to understand how coherence and structure are created in larger stretches of language.


Simple Example: Analyzing how turns are taken in a conversation, how a story is structured with a beginning, middle, and end, or how a politician uses certain pronouns ("we" vs. "they") to create a sense of unity or opposition in a speech.
11. Applied Linguistics

Definition: An interdisciplinary field that identifies and offers solutions to real-world language-related problems. It applies theories and findings from core linguistic fields to practical tasks.


Simple Example:

Language Teaching: Developing methods for teaching a second language.

Speech-Language Pathology: Diagnosing and treating language disorders.

Translation and Interpretation: Developing best practices for accurate translation.

Lexicography: The science of writing dictionaries.