PhoneticsPhonetics is a branch of linguistics that mainly concerns the articulation, sound wave properties, and perception of speech sounds. The field of phonetics is traditionally divided into three sub-disciplines: articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, and auditory phonetics. Linguists who specialize in studying these physical properties of vocalization are phoneticians. Traditionally, the minimal linguistic unit of phonetics is the phone, an individual speech sound.
PhonologyPhonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics) is the branch of linguistics that concerns how languages organize the foundational elements that make their words. In spoken languages, these are phonemes like vowel and consonant sounds that affect meaning. Examples of this effect can be found in comparisons of English words like bat and gnat. In sign languages, these are components of signs such as hand shape and location.SyntaxIn linguistics, syntax ( SIN-taks) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form well-formed larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns in this area of linguistics include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituency), agreement, cross-linguistic variation, and the relationship between structure and meaning (semantics).
Functional linguisticsFunctional linguistics is an approach to the study of language characterized by taking systematically into account the speaker's and the hearer's side, and the communicative needs of the speaker and of the given language community. Linguistic functionalism spawned in the 1920s to 1930s from Ferdinand de Saussure's systematic structuralist approach to language (1916).Ronald LangackerRonald Wayne Langacker (born December 27, 1942) is an American linguist and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego. He is best known as one of the founders of the cognitive linguistics movement and the creator of cognitive grammar.Cognitive linguisticsCognitive linguistics is an approach to the study of language that encompasses a number of complementary and sometimes overlapping theories. Their defining characteristic is the guiding assumption that linguistic patterns are patterns of conceptualization. Thus, cognitive linguists consider that the study of language provides insight into other human cognitive functions and vice-versa.
LinguisticsScientific study of languageLinguistics is the scientific study of language.
Joan BybeeJoan Lea Bybee (previously: Hooper; born 11 February 1945 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American linguist and professor emerita at the University of New Mexico. Much of her work concerns grammaticalization, stochastics, modality, morphology, and phonology. Bybee is best known for proposing the theory of usage-based phonology and for her contributions to cognitive and historical linguistics.Morten H. ChristiansenMorten H. Christiansen (born 1963) is a Danish cognitive scientist known for his work on the evolution of language, and connectionist modeling of human language acquisition. He is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Cognitive Science of Language Lab at Cornell University as well Senior Scientist at the Haskins Labs and Professor in the School of Communication and Culture at Aarhus University.Michael TomaselloMichael Tomasello (born January 18, 1950) is an American developmental and comparative psychologist, as well as a linguist. He is professor of psychology at Duke University. Earning many prizes and awards from the end of the 1990s onward, he is considered one of today's most authoritative developmental and comparative psychologists. KNAW identified him as "one of the few scientists worldwide who is acknowledged as an expert in multiple disciplines".
Generative grammarGenerative grammar is a research tradition in linguistics that aims to explain the cognitive basis of language by formulating and testing explicit models of humans' subconscious grammatical knowledge. Generative linguists, or generativists (), tend to share certain working assumptions such as the competence–performance distinction and the notion that some domain-specific aspects of grammar are partly innate in humans.
Formal grammarA formal grammar is a set of symbols and the production rules for rewriting some of them into every possible string of a formal language over an alphabet. A grammar does not describe the meaning of the strings—only their form. In applied mathematics, formal language theory is the discipline that studies formal grammars and languages. Its applications are found in theoretical computer science, theoretical linguistics, formal semantics, mathematical logic, and other areas.
PhonologyPhonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics) is the branch of linguistics that concerns how languages organize the foundational elements that make their words. In spoken languages, these are phonemes like vowel and consonant sounds that affect meaning. Examples of this effect can be found in comparisons of English words like bat and gnat. In sign languages, these are components of signs such as hand shape and location.SyntaxIn linguistics, syntax ( SIN-taks) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form well-formed larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns in this area of linguistics include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituency), agreement, cross-linguistic variation, and the relationship between structure and meaning (semantics).Functional linguisticsFunctional linguistics is an approach to the study of language characterized by taking systematically into account the speaker's and the hearer's side, and the communicative needs of the speaker and of the given language community. Linguistic functionalism spawned in the 1920s to 1930s from Ferdinand de Saussure's systematic structuralist approach to language (1916).Ronald LangackerRonald Wayne Langacker (born December 27, 1942) is an American linguist and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego. He is best known as one of the founders of the cognitive linguistics movement and the creator of cognitive grammar.Cognitive linguisticsCognitive linguistics is an approach to the study of language that encompasses a number of complementary and sometimes overlapping theories. Their defining characteristic is the guiding assumption that linguistic patterns are patterns of conceptualization. Thus, cognitive linguists consider that the study of language provides insight into other human cognitive functions and vice-versa.LinguisticsScientific study of languageLinguistics is the scientific study of language.Joan BybeeJoan Lea Bybee (previously: Hooper; born 11 February 1945 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American linguist and professor emerita at the University of New Mexico. Much of her work concerns grammaticalization, stochastics, modality, morphology, and phonology. Bybee is best known for proposing the theory of usage-based phonology and for her contributions to cognitive and historical linguistics.Morten H. ChristiansenMorten H. Christiansen (born 1963) is a Danish cognitive scientist known for his work on the evolution of language, and connectionist modeling of human language acquisition. He is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Cognitive Science of Language Lab at Cornell University as well Senior Scientist at the Haskins Labs and Professor in the School of Communication and Culture at Aarhus University.Michael TomaselloMichael Tomasello (born January 18, 1950) is an American developmental and comparative psychologist, as well as a linguist. He is professor of psychology at Duke University. Earning many prizes and awards from the end of the 1990s onward, he is considered one of today's most authoritative developmental and comparative psychologists. KNAW identified him as "one of the few scientists worldwide who is acknowledged as an expert in multiple disciplines".Generative grammarGenerative grammar is a research tradition in linguistics that aims to explain the cognitive basis of language by formulating and testing explicit models of humans' subconscious grammatical knowledge. Generative linguists, or generativists (), tend to share certain working assumptions such as the competence–performance distinction and the notion that some domain-specific aspects of grammar are partly innate in humans.Formal grammarA formal grammar is a set of symbols and the production rules for rewriting some of them into every possible string of a formal language over an alphabet. A grammar does not describe the meaning of the strings—only their form. In applied mathematics, formal language theory is the discipline that studies formal grammars and languages. Its applications are found in theoretical computer science, theoretical linguistics, formal semantics, mathematical logic, and other areas.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.