Branches of Linguistics

BRANCHES OF
LINGUISTICS
Presented by
Rauha Salam
Lecturer
Department of English
NMUL, Multan Campus
Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics: a term that refers to the study of the
relationship between language and society, and how

language is used in multilingual speech communities.
Sociolinguists are interested in explaining why people
speak differently in different social contexts.

And the effect of social factors such as (social distance,
social status, age, gender, class) on language varieties

(dialects, registers, genres, etc), and they are concerned
with identifying the social functions of language and the
way they are used to convey social meanings.
A variety is a neutral term for any recognisable form of
language. It can be diachronically, diastratically or

diatopically defined.
A dialect is a regional form of a language. It frequently is
part of a continuum of dialects. The term sociolect, or

sometimes social dialect, is used for a recognisable form
of urban language and again may represent a point on a
continuum determined by social class.
An isogloss is a separating line between two areas which
differ in some linguistic feature. Isoglosses tend to cluster

and so frequently form a dialect boundary.
The history of dialectology goes back to the last century and can be
seen as an offshoot of Indo-European comparative philology and was

understandably purely historical in its orientation. It used such
techniques as the questionnaire and was interested in compiling
linguistic maps, particularly those conserving older rural usage.
The area of language and gender is concerned with a number of
issues. For instance, how is it that western languages are inherently

sexist, i.e. embody discrimination in their structure and/or vocabulary?
This may be by assuming that the default case is always male as in
The linguist must gather data and be careful that he organises it

properly. Apart from this generic usage, language may be sexist in the
terms it uses for women, in using animal terms derisively for women,
e.g. stupid cow, silly duck.
This kind of situation is a reflection of the position of women in western
societies and relates to the history of the cultures they embody.
In the past few decades sociolinguists have paid much
attention to the actuation and propagation of language

change.
The trigger for change is difficult to make out in many
cases but the propagation has been satisfactorily

described in many recent studies which take social
motivation to be central.
Psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics
or 'the psychology of language'

encompasses so many different aspects of language, from
language acquisition, to syntax and semantics, to phonolgy
and morphology.
With current and future technological advances and with the
collaboration of other disciplines, psycholinguistics aims to

advance our understanding of the human brain.
The common aim of psycholinguistics is "to find out about the

structures and processes which underlie a human's ability to
speak and understand language"
Psycholinguistics
involves:
language processing - reading, writing, speaking, listening and memory.

lexical storage and retrieval - how are words stored in our minds and
then used.
language acquisition - how a first language is acquired by children.
special circumstances - twins, deafness, blindness, dyslexia and brain
damage.
the brain and language - unique to humans? evolution and part of the
brain concerned with language.

second language acquisition and use - Bilingualism, how a second
language is learnt.
Corpus Linguistics
A corpus is a collection of related language data which is compiled and
analysed linguistically. Such data can be synchronic or diachronic.

In the latter case its consists of texts, in the former it could also contain
sound files or transcription of speech. The advantage of a corpus is that

it can offer sufficient attestations of a structure or word to allow linguists
to make statistically reliable statements.
Equally corpora can be used to disprove assumptions, e.g. about when
a certain structure appeared, in what type of text, or with what author. A

corpus can also be used for style analysis and may in some cases help
to determine authorship by looking at recurrent patterns in the syntax or
vocabulary of an author.
One should also mention that in some instances corpora are not useful
because they do not tell us what is or was not possible in a language
Anthropological Linguistics
Anthropology is a holistic science in that it can encompass every aspect of
human society and culture in the present, and can trace human evolution
and development stretching back into prehistory.
There are two main branches of anthropology:
1) Cultural or social anthropology which studies living human societies and

their cultural systems;
2) Physical or biological anthropology which is primarily concerned with
human evolution at a much greater time depth.
The first type of anthropology, social anthropology, has a linguistic
dimension to it. It studies the use of language in different cultures and is

concerned with how cultures reflect their specific features in the language or
languages they speak.
Linguistic anthropology can thus be seen as a superset to sociolinguistics is
that it is concerned with large-scale differences.
Neurolinguistics
Neurolinguistics is the study of all aspects of language directly
related to the functioning of the brain. It is difficult to determine

where the language faculty is located but at least two main
areas have been identified in the brain:
1) Brocas area responsible for production and 2
2) Wernickes area which is involved in understanding language.
Aphasia refers to any physically based malfunctioning of
language. The two main sources of this are lesions caused by

accidents and brain disease resulting from cancerous tumors.
There are various kinds of impairment which may involve
production or comprehension or both.
An individual with aphasia may have difficulty finding words,
or producing sounds or may show a lack of grammatical

words.
The tip of the tongue phenomenon can be seen with non-
pathological speakers and is characterised by a sudden

block in lexical retrieval and which is released again for no
apparent reason.
Slips of the tongue involve the involuntary and unintended
switching of elements among words of a sentence.

Normally the onset or rhyme of adjacent syllables are
switched and this phenomenon offers firm evidence for the

validity of the syllable as a phonological unit
Forensic Linguistics
Forensic linguistics, legal linguistics, or language and
the law, is the application of linguistic knowledge,

methods and insights to the forensic context of law,
language, crime investigation, trial, and judicial procedure.
It is a branch of applied linguistics.
There are principally three areas of application for
linguists working in forensic contexts

understanding language of the written law,
understanding language use in forensic and judicial
processes, and
the provision of linguistic evidence.
Example of Forensic Text types

A suicide note is typically brief, concise and highly
propositional with a degree of evasiveness. A credible

suicide letter must be making a definite unequivocal
proposition in a situational context.
The proposition of genuine suicide is thematic, directed
to the addressee (or addressees) and relevant to the

relationship between them. Suicide notes generally have
sentences alluding to the act of killing oneself, or the
method of suicide that was undertaken.
The contents of a suicide note could be intended to make
the addressee suffer or feel guilt. Genuine suicide letters

are short, typically less than 300 words in length.
Extraneous or irrelevant material is often excluded from
Applied Linguistics
Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of linguistics.
Major branches of applied linguistics include bilingualism

and multilingualism, computer-mediated communication
(CMC), conversation analysis, contrastive linguistics,
sign linguistics, language assessment, literacies,
discourse analysis, language pedagogy,
second language acquisition, lexicography,
language planning and policy, interlinguistics, stylistics,
pragmatics, forensic linguistics and translation.
Applied linguistics first concerned itself with principles and
practices on the basis of linguistics. In the early days, applied

linguistics was thought as linguistics-applied at least from the
outside of the field.
In the 1960s, however, applied linguistics was expanded to
include language assessment, language policy, and second

language acquisition. As early as the 1970s, applied linguistics
became a problem-driven field rather than theoretical linguistics
, including the solution of language-related problems in the real
world.
By the 1990s, applied linguistics had broadened including
critical studies and multilingualism. Research in applied

linguistics was shifted to "the theoretical and empirical
investigation of real world problems in which language is a
central issue
Biolinguistics
Biolinguistics is the study of the biology and evolution of
language. It is a highly interdisciplinary field, including

linguists,
biologists, neuroscientists,
psychologists,
mathematicians, and others.
By shifting the focus of investigation in linguistics to a
comprehensive scheme that embraces natural sciences, it

seeks to yield a framework by which we can understand
the fundamentals of the faculty of language.
The biolinguistic perspective began to take shape in the
mid-twentieth century, among the linguists influenced by

the developments in biology and mathematics.
Eric Lennebergs Biological
Foundations
Language remains a basic document of the field.
of
In 1974, the first Biolinguistic conference was organized
by Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini,
bringing
together
evolutionary biologists, neuroscientists, linguists, and
others interested in the development of language in the
individual, its origins, and evolution.
According to the hypothesis being developed, the essential
properties of language arise from nature itself: the efficient

growth requirement appears everywhere, from the pattern of
petals in flowers, leaf arrangements in trees and the spirals of a
seashell to the structure of DNA and proportions of human head
and body.
If this law applies to existing systems of cognition, both in
humans and non-humans, then what allows our mind to create

language? Could it be that a single cycle exists, a unique
component of which gives rise to our ability to construct
sentences, refer to ourselves and other persons, group objects
and establish relations between them, and eventually understand
each other?
The answer to this question will be a landmark breakthrough, not
only within linguistics but in our understanding of cognition in

general.

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BRANCHES OF

relationship between language and society, and how

speak differently in different social contexts.

social status, age, gender, class) on language varieties

A variety is a neutral term for any recognisable form of

language. It can be diachronically, diastratically or

part of a continuum of dialects. The term sociolect, or

differ in some linguistic feature. Isoglosses tend to cluster

seen as an offshoot of Indo-European comparative philology and was

issues. For instance, how is it that western languages are inherently

The linguist must gather data and be careful that he organises it

societies and relates to the history of the cultures they embody.

In the past few decades sociolinguists have paid much

attention to the actuation and propagation of language

cases but the propagation has been satisfactorily

or 'the psychology of language'

With current and future technological advances and with the

collaboration of other disciplines, psycholinguistics aims to

The common aim of psycholinguistics is "to find out about the

language processing - reading, writing, speaking, listening and memory.

brain concerned with language.

analysed linguistically. Such data can be synchronic or diachronic.

sound files or transcription of speech. The advantage of a corpus is that

a certain structure appeared, in what type of text, or with what author. A

because they do not tell us what is or was not possible in a language

1) Cultural or social anthropology which studies living human societies and

dimension to it. It studies the use of language in different cultures and is

that it is concerned with large-scale differences.

related to the functioning of the brain. It is difficult to determine

language. The two main sources of this are lesions caused by

An individual with aphasia may have difficulty finding words,

or producing sounds or may show a lack of grammatical

pathological speakers and is characterised by a sudden

switching of elements among words of a sentence.

switched and this phenomenon offers firm evidence for the

the law, is the application of linguistic knowledge,

linguists working in forensic contexts

Example of Forensic Text types

propositional with a degree of evasiveness. A credible

to the addressee (or addressees) and relevant to the

the addressee suffer or feel guilt. Genuine suicide letters

Major branches of applied linguistics include bilingualism

Applied linguistics first concerned itself with principles and

practices on the basis of linguistics. In the early days, applied

include language assessment, language policy, and second

critical studies and multilingualism. Research in applied

language. It is a highly interdisciplinary field, including

comprehensive scheme that embraces natural sciences, it

The biolinguistic perspective began to take shape in the

mid-twentieth century, among the linguists influenced by

In 1974, the first Biolinguistic conference was organized

According to the hypothesis being developed, the essential

properties of language arise from nature itself: the efficient

humans and non-humans, then what allows our mind to create

only within linguistics but in our understanding of cognition in

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