In linguistics

Linguistics

Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....

, language

Language

Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...

s are often studied in terms of six major subsystems, which relate to major subfields within linguistics. In addition, particular subfields of linguistic inquiry may divide their subject matter into more specific subsystems. This list contains links to commonly studied language subsystems.

Major subsystems

Linguists recognize six major language subsystems.

• Phonetics
  Phonetics
  Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
  
  , the sound
  Sound
  Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
  
  s of human speech
  Speech
  Speech is the human faculty of speaking.It may also refer to:* Public speaking, the process of speaking to a group of people* Manner of articulation, how the body parts involved in making speech are manipulated...
  
  , including their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory perception, and neurophysiological status
• Phonology
  Phonology
  Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
  
  , the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language
  Human language
  A human language is a language primarily intended for communication among humans. The two major categories of human languages are natural languages and constructed languages...
  
   (natural language
  Natural language
  In the philosophy of language, a natural language is any language which arises in an unpremeditated fashion as the result of the innate facility for language possessed by the human intellect. A natural language is typically used for communication, and may be spoken, signed, or written...
  
   or constructed language
  Constructed language
  A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
  
  )
• Morphology
  Morphology (linguistics)
  In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
  
  , the structure of meaningful units of a language, such as word
  Word
  In language, a word is the smallest free form that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content . This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own...
  
  s and affix
  Affix
  An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes...
  
  es
• Syntax
  Syntax
  In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
  
  , the principles and rules for constructing phrase
  Phrase
  In everyday speech, a phrase may refer to any group of words. In linguistics, a phrase is a group of words which form a constituent and so function as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. A phrase is lower on the grammatical hierarchy than a clause....
  
  s, clause
  Clause
  In grammar, a clause is the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. In some languages it may be a pair or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in other languages in certain clauses the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun phrase,...
  
  s, and the like in human languages
• Semantics
  Semantics
  Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
  
  , the meaningful
  Meaning (linguistics)
  In linguistics, meaning is what is expressed by the writer or speaker, and what is conveyed to the reader or listener, provided that they talk about the same thing . In other words if the object and the name of the object and the concepts in their head are the same...
  
   content of words, sentences
  Sentence (linguistics)
  In the field of linguistics, a sentence is an expression in natural language, and often defined to indicate a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that generally bear minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it...
  
  , or other language elements
• Pragmatics
  Pragmatics
  Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. Pragmatics encompasses speech act theory, conversational implicature, talk in interaction and other approaches to language behavior in philosophy, sociology, and linguistics. It studies how the...
  
  , the ways in which context
  Context (language use)
  Context is a notion used in the language sciences in two different ways, namely as* verbal context* social context- Verbal context :...
  
   contributes to meaning in natural language use

Sociolinguistics

• The term variety
  Variety (linguistics)
  In sociolinguistics a variety, also called a lect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, accents, registers, styles or other sociolinguistic variation, as well as the standard variety itself...
  
  in sociolinguistics
  Sociolinguistics
  Sociolinguistics is the descriptive 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...
  
   is used as a cover term for dialects, registers, and other forms of language, including standard languages.
  • Dialect
    Dialect
    The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
    
     refers to a variety that is used by a particular group of speakers.
  • Accent refers to a specific system of pronunciation.
  • Idiolect
    Idiolect
    In linguistics, an idiolect is a variety of a language unique to an individual. It is manifested by patterns of vocabulary or idiom selection , grammar, or pronunciations that are unique to the individual. Every individual's language production is in some sense unique...
    
     refers to the variety that is used by an individual speaker.
  • Register
    Register (sociolinguistics)
    In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting an English speaker may be more likely to adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal...
    
     or style
    Stylistics (linguistics)
    Stylistics is the study and interpretation of texts from a linguistic perspective. As a discipline it links literary criticism and linguistics, but has no autonomous domain of its own...
    
     refer to a variety that is used in a particular setting or for a particular purpose.
  • Standard language
    Standard language
    A standard language is a language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse. Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works...
    
     is a variety promoted by some social group, either officially or unofficially, as the preferred form.
• Ausbausprache, Abstandsprache and Dachsprache are concepts developed by sociolinguists to describe related language varieties, ranging from dialects of a single language to distinct languages.