linguistics

Table of Contents

Introduction
History of linguistics
- Earlier history
  - Non-Western traditions
  - Greek and Roman antiquity
  - The European Middle Ages
  - The Renaissance
- The 19th century
  - Development of the comparative method
  - The role of analogy
  - Other 19th-century theories and development
    - Inner and outer form
    - Phonetics and dialectology
- The 20th century
  - Structuralism
    - Structural linguistics in Europe
    - Structural linguistics in America
  - Transformational-generative grammar
  - Tagmemic, stratificational, and other approaches
Methods of synchronic linguistic analysis
- Structural linguistics
  - Phonology
  - Morphology
  - Syntax
  - Semantics
- Transformational-generative grammar
  - Harris’s grammar
  - Chomsky’s grammar
  - Modifications in Chomsky’s grammar
- Tagmemics
  - Modes of language
  - Hierarchy of levels
- Stratificational grammar
  - Technical terminology
  - Interstratal relationships
- The Prague school
  - Combination of structuralism and functionalism
  - Phonological contributions
  - Theory of markedness
  - Later contributions
Historical (diachronic) linguistics
- Linguistic change
  - Sound change
  - Grammatical change
  - Semantic change
  - Borrowing
- The comparative method
  - Grimm’s law
  - Proto-Indo-European reconstruction
  - Steps in the comparative method
  - Criticisms of the comparative method
  - Internal reconstruction
- Language classification
Linguistics and other disciplines
- Psycholinguistics
  - Language acquisition by children
  - Speech perception
  - Other areas of research
- Sociolinguistics
  - Delineation of the field
  - Social dimensions
- Other relationships
  - Anthropological linguistics
  - Computational linguistics
  - Mathematical linguistics
  - Stylistics
  - Applied linguistics
Dialectology and linguistic geography
- Dialect geography
  - Early dialect studies
  - Dialect atlases
  - The value and applications of dialectology
- Social dialectology

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

Wilhelm von Humboldt

Ferdinand de Saussure

Figure 1: The constituent structure of a simple sentence (see text).

Figure 2: The constituent structure of a class of simple sentences with arbitrary letters used to represent the form class of each constituent (see text).

phrase structure of VP, or verb phrase

phrase structure of the sentence “The man will hit the ball”

derived phrase marker for a passive sentence

Figure 7: Diagrammatic representation of a transformational grammar (see text).

For Students

Wilhelm von Humboldt

linguistics summary

Read Next

Skyline Barcelona at sunset, Spain

Is Castilian Spanish Spoken with a Lisp?

Happy, smiling, flying pig

7 Everyday English Idioms and Where They Come From

Student girl writing formulas on transparent wall

The Bizarre Origins of the Words Nerd and Geek

Frowning little girl. Angry annoyed

Is Body Language Universal?

A ginger cat sleeps in his soft cozy bed on a floor carpet, soft focus

Lay, Lie, Lied, Lain: When Do We Use Which?

Discover

Mona Lisa, oil on wood panel by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1503-06; in the Louvre, Paris, France. 77 x 53 cm.

Why Is the Mona Lisa So Famous?

Albert Einstein in Washington, D.C. c. 1921-1923. Physicist

The Solar Eclipse That Made Albert Einstein a Science Celebrity

Pluto. The Changing Faces of Pluto. Most detailed view to date of the entire surface of the dwarf planet Pluto, as constructed from multiple NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken from 2002 to 2003.

10 Important Dates in Pluto History

Black widow spider

9 of the World’s Deadliest Spiders

Solar eclipse of the sun.

The Sun Was Eaten: 6 Ways Cultures Have Explained Eclipses

In this aerial photo, structures are damaged and destroyed October 15, 2005 in Balakot, Pakistan. It is estimated that 90% of the city of Balakot was leveled by the earthquake. The death toll in the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck northern Pakistan on October 8, 2005 is believed to be 38,000 with at least 1,300 more dead in Indian Kashmir. SEE CONTENT NOTES.

6 of the World’s Deadliest Natural Disasters

United States Electoral College votes by state

How Many Electoral College Votes Does Each U.S. State Have?

linguistics: Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos

Wilhelm von Humboldt

Ferdinand de Saussure

Figure 1: The constituent structure of a simple sentence (see text).

Figure 2: The constituent structure of a class of simple sentences with arbitrary letters used to represent the form class of each constituent (see text).

phrase structure of VP, or verb phrase

phrase structure of the sentence “The man will hit the ball”

derived phrase marker for a passive sentence

Figure 7: Diagrammatic representation of a transformational grammar (see text).

See All Images →

Topics

grammar stylistics comparative linguistics historical linguistics psycholinguistics structuralism sociolinguistics neurolinguistics computational linguistics anthropological linguistics anthropology geography economics political science sociology pedagogy archaeology cultural anthropology comparative law physical anthropology

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky

American linguist

Lancelot Thomas Hogben

English scientist

Michel Thomas

linguist and teacher

Kristeva, Julia

Julia Kristeva

French author

Joseph H. Greenberg

American anthropologist and linguist

Roman Jakobson

American linguist

Karl Brugmann

German linguist

John R. Firth

British linguist

Oswin Köhler

German linguist and ethnologist

Karl Verner

Danish linguist

William Labov

American linguist

Mary R. Haas

American linguist

Gottfried Hermann

German classical scholar

Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker

Canadian-American psychologist

Kenneth L. Pike

American linguist

Ferdinand de Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure

Swiss linguist

Mikhail Bakhtin

Russian philosopher and literary critic

Sayce, detail of an oil painting by an unknown artist, c. 1920; in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Archibald H. Sayce

British language scholar

Leonard Bloomfield

American linguist

Friedrich Müller

Austrian linguist

Quiz

Hand with pencil writing on page. (handwriting; write)

Word Nerd Quiz

Child tracing letters of the alphabet

English 101

List

Happy, smiling, flying pig

7 Everyday English Idioms and Where They Come From

Demystified

Frowning little girl. Angry annoyed

Is Body Language Universal?

Skyline Barcelona at sunset, Spain

Is Castilian Spanish Spoken with a Lisp?