A. Theoretical Linguistics
Theoretical Linguistics is a a branch of Linguistics that deals with the study and development of paradigm of language knowledge. Essential elements of this branch are syntax that deals with the general rules of sentence construction, phonology that deals with sound production to produce meaning, morphology that focuses on the smallest component of word and other units in a sentence and semantics that studies the composition of all elements in reference to its relationship to each other that results to a meaning.
There are sub-disciplines of Linguistics that can be categorized under Theoretical Linguistics, these are:
Cognitive Linguistics - interprets language in terms of the concepts, sometimes universal, sometimes specific to a particular tongue, which underlie its forms.
Generative Linguistics - the study and application of grammar in a fully explicit way, with a range of different, overlapping meanings by different people.
Quantitative Linguistics - deals with language learning, language change, and application as well as structure of natural languages based on statistical methods.
Phonology - the study of sounds (or signs) as discrete, abstract elements in the speaker's mind that distinguish meaning
Morphology - the study of internal structures of words and how they can be modified
Syntax - the study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences
Lexis - the total word-stock or vocabulary having items of lexical rather than grammatical, meaning.
Pragmatics - studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning
B. Descriptive Linguistics
Descriptive linguistics is the work of objectively analyzing and describing how language is spoken (or how it was spoken in the past) by a group of people in a speech community. All scholarly research in linguistics is descriptive; like all other sciences, its aim is to observe the linguistic world as it is, without the bias of preconceived ideas about how it ought to be.
Anthropological Linguistics - the study of the relations between language and culture and the relations between human biology, cognition and language.
Comparative Linguistics - concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness.
Historical Linguistics - the study of language change
Etymology - the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.
Phonetics - the study of the physical properties of speech (or signed) production and perception
Sociolinguistics - the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and the effects of language use on society.
C. Applied Linguistics
Computational Linguistics - interdisciplinary field dealing with the statistical and/or rule-based modeling of natural languagefrom a computational perspective.
Forensic Linguistics - is the application of linguistic knowledge, methods and insights to the forensic context of law, crime investigation, trial, and judicial procedure.
Internet Linguistics - It studies new language styles and forms that have arisen under the influence of the Internet and other New Media, such as Short Message Service (SMS) text messaging.
Language Acquisition - the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive, produce and use words to understand and communicate.
Language Assessment - focuses on the assessment of first, second or other language in the school, college, or university context; assessment of language use in the workplace; and assessment of language in the immigration, citizenship, and asylum contexts.
Language Development - a process starting early in human life, when a person begins to acquire language by learning it as it is spoken and by mimicry.
Language Education - is the teaching and learning of a language. It can include improving a learner's mastery of her or his native language, but the term is more commonly used with regard to second language acquisition, which means the learning of a foreign or second language.
Language Prescription - normative practices on such aspects of language use as spelling, grammar, and syntax. It includes judgments on what usages are socially proper and politically correct.
Linguistic Anthropology - an interdisciplinary study of how language influences social life.
Neurolinguistics - he study of the neural mechanisms in the human brain that control the comprehension, production, and acquisition of language.
Psycholinguistics - the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, comprehend and produce language.
Fromkin, Victoria; Bruce Hayes; Susan Curtiss, Anna Szabolcsi, Tim Stowell, Donca Steriade (2000). Linguistics: An Introduction to Linguistic Theory. Oxford: Blackwell
McMahon, A. M. S. (1994). Understanding Language Change. Cambridge University Press
"Linguist". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2000.
Center for Applied Linguistics
http://www.appliedlinguistics.org
Dela Cruz, Edna M.; Advanced Speech Communications
Rex Bookstore, Inc., 2010
International Conference on Language Education
http://www.pixel-online.org
