Linguistics Micro & Macro Levels

Levels of Linguistic Analysis

• Linguistics as a an established science of
language studies covers a range of levels of
linguistic analysis
• These levels of linguistic analysis are majorly
categorized as Macro & Micro Linguistics
• The terms Macro & Micro normally mean:
➢Macro: brooder level of study
➢Micro: smaller & narrower level of study
 Macro Linguistics
• Macro Linguistics is the study of language at a
broader level.
• It simply means the relation of Linguistics with
other disciplines.
• It is also referred to as interdisciplinary approach
• In other words, it is also called as the Macro
branches of Linguistics
• Like, Sociolinguistics, Psycholinguistics,
Neurolinguistics, Theolinguistics, Applied
Linguistics, Pure Linguistics, Descriptive
Linguistics, etc.
 Micro Linguistics
• Micro Linguistics is the study of language at a
smaller level.
• It is related to the internal matters of a language
• It is also referred to as interadisciplinary
approach
• Normally, it is understood as the micro levels of
linguistic analysis
• Like, Phonetics & Phonology, Morphology,
Semantics, Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis
 Levels/Branches of Micro Linguistics
• Phonetics & Phonology
• Phonetics deals with the study of the production
of speech sounds of a particular language
• Articulatory Phonetics: It studies the process of
production of speech sounds. It studies how
speech sounds are articulated by human organs
• It includes manner and place of articulation of
speech sounds
 Phonetics & Phonology
• Acoustic Phonetics: It studies the process of
transmission of speech sounds
• It analysis the physical properties of speech and
aims to analyze sound wave signals that occur
within speech through varying frequencies,
amplitudes and durations.
• Auditory Phonetics: it studies the process of
perception of speech sounds
• It is concerned with the hearing of speech sounds
and with speech perception. It deals with
transformation information into neural signals and
sending them to brain
 Morphology
• Morphological level is greater than
phonological level of study
• It is the study of words formation: how they
are formed and what is their relation to other
words in the same language
• It analyzes the structure of words and parts of
words, such as stems, root words, prefixes,
and suffixes.
 Semantics
• It is the next level of analysis
• It deals with the study of meanings
• It is concerned with the relationship between
signifiers like words, phrases, signs and
symbols
• It is also interrelated with Pragmatics and
Syntax as it aims at meanings in context at
sentence level
 Pragmatics
• It is the study of meanings in the context
• Pragmatics deals with utterances, by which we will
mean specific events, the intentional acts of speakers at
times and places, typically involving language.
• 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 structural and linguistic
knowledge but also on the context of the utterance
• Pragmatics encompasses speech act theory,
conversational implicature, talk in interaction etc.
 Syntax
• The study of the rules that govern the ways in
which words combine to form phrases, clauses,
and sentences.
• In other words, it is the study of grammatical
structures of a language
• Syntax is the proper order of words in a phrase or
sentence.
• Syntax is a tool used in writing proper
grammatical sentences.
• Native speakers of a language learn correct
syntax without realizing it.
 Levels/Branches of Macro Linguistics
• Discourse Analysis: the study of language
beyond the level of sentence (larger chunks)
• DA is an interdisciplinary approach
• It is a research based approach to the study of
written and spoken language in real use or
social context
• DA focuses on the naturally occurring
language
 Sociolinguistics
• The study of relationship between language and society
• It studies language use in structures of society
• It takes into account such factors as the social backgrounds
of both the speaker and the addressee (i.e. their age, sex,
social class, ethnic background, degree of integration into
their neighborhood, etc.), the relationship between speaker
and addressee (good friends, employer–employee,
teacher–pupil, grandmother–grandchild, etc.) and the
context and manner of the interaction (in bed, in the
supermarket, in a TV studio, in church, loudly, whispering,
over the phone, by fax, etc.)
• These factors are considered crucial to understanding of
language in use
 Psycholinguistics
• The study of relationship between language and
psychology.
• It studies the role of human mind and cognitive
structures in language acquisition
• addresses the question of how
• the mentally represented grammar (linguistic
competence) is employed in the
• production and comprehension of speech (linguistic
performance).
• This branch put forwards the view that language
acquisition is an inborn capability in human beings
• Chomsky: LAD & Innateness Hypothesis
 Neurolinguistics
• It is the study of Linguistics in relationship to
human brain
• It addresses the question: how is linguistic
knowledge represented in the brain?
• The direct study of the human brain is fraught with
difficulties. So it studies brain-damaged patients
who suffer from language disorders.
• The study of patients with various types of brain
damage has revealed that different parts of the
brain are associated with (i.e. control) different
functions.
 Historical Linguistics
• The branch of Linguistics that investigates how
languages change over time.
• historical linguists have studied language change
by relying exclusively on diachronic methods
• These involve analyzing the structure of language
from a succession of dates in the past and
highlighting those structural features
(phonological, morphological or syntactic) that
appear to have changed over that period of time.
 General Linguistics
• Studies the evolution of language from a
historical point of view (diachronic) and also
does synchronic studies on the difference
among languages and how a single language
works
• The father of General linguistics is the
Swiss Ferdinand de Saussur
 Descriptive Linguistics
• the study of the grammar, classification, and
arrangement of the features of a language at a
given time, without reference to the history of
the language or comparison with other
languages.
• It gives description of internal phonological,
grammatical and semantic structures of language
• It provides data which confirm or refute the
theories put forward in General Linguistics
 Theoretical Linguistics
• Theoretical linguistics is the branch of
linguistics which inquires into the nature of
language itself and seeks to answer
fundamental questions as to what language is
and why languages have the properties they
have.
• It inquires into the nature of language or
languages without regard for practical
applications
 Applied Linguistics
• It is the application of the concepts and findings
of Linguistics to a variety of practical tasks,
including language teaching.
• It is an interdisciplinary approach
• identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to
language-related real-life problems. Some of the
academic fields related to applied linguistics are
education, psychology, communication research,
anthropology, and sociology.
• It is also concerned with general descriptive
branches of linguistics
 Corpus Linguistics
• Corpus linguistics is the study of language as
expressed in corpora (samples) of "real world"
text.
• Corpora is a large and structured body of text
that is electronically stored and processed
• So CL is the study of machine readable data
• It is aimed at checking occurrences or
validating linguistic rules within a specific
language territory
 Anthropological Linguistics
• Anthropological linguistics is the subfield of
linguistics and anthropology, which deals with
the place of language in its wider social and
cultural context, and its role in making and
maintaining cultural practices and societal
structures in past and present
 Computational Linguistics
• Computational linguistics (CL) is the
application of computer science to the
analysis, synthesis and comprehension of
written and spoken language
• Goals of computational linguistics include:
• Translating text from one language to another.
• Retrieving text that relates to a specific topic.