Linguistics is the scientific study of natural lingo. Precisely, it is a science of languages, or of the implication, foundation and application of words. Linguistics can be applied or theoretical. A person who engages in this study is called a linguist. There are various branches of linguistics which includes; Psycholinguistics, Applied linguistics ,Sociolinguistics, Language acquisition , Neurolinguistics, Linguistic anthropology , Computational linguistics, Generative linguistics, Cognitive linguistics, Descriptive linguistics, Historical linguistics, Comparative linguistics, Etymology, Stylistics Prescription, Biolinguistics, Corpus linguistics and Paralinguistic.
Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of studies that explores, categorizes and proposes solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are linguistics, sociology, psychology, education and anthropology.
Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the statistical and/or rule-based form of natural lingo from a computational standpoint. This representation has not been condensed to any particular linguistics field. Conventionally, computational linguistics was usually performed by computer scientists who had specialized in the application of computers to the processing of a natural language. Computational linguists often work as members of interdisciplinary teams, including, language experts (persons with some level of ability in the languages relevant to a given project), linguists (specifically trained in linguistics) and computer scientists. In broad-spectrum, computational linguistics illustrates upon the contribution of computer scientists, linguists, and experts in artificial intelligence, logicians, mathematicians philosophers, cognitive psychologists, cognitive scientists, anthropologists, psycholinguists and neuroscientists, along with others.
Neurolinguistics is the study of the neural mechanisms in the human brain that control the comprehension, production, and acquisition of language. It portrays methodology and theory from fields such as neuroscience, linguistics, neurobiology, cognitive science, neuropsychology, communication disorders, and computer science. Neurolinguists study the physiological mechanisms by which the brain processes information related to language, and evaluate linguistic and psycholinguistic theories, using brain imaging, electrophysiology, and computer modeling.
Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, comprehend and produce language. Psycholinguistics covers the cognitive processes that make it possible to generate a grammatical and meaningful sentence out of vocabulary and grammatical structures, as well as the processes that make it possible to understand utterances, words, text, etc. Developmental psycholinguistics studies children's ability to learn language.
Neurolinguistics is informed by models in psycholinguistics and theoretical linguistics, and is focused on investigating how the brain can implement the processes that theoretical and psycholinguistics proposes are necessary in producing and comprehending language.
There are several subdivisions within psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics that are based on the components that make up human language. These divisions are Syntax, which in psycholinguistics is the study of the patterns that dictate how words are combined together to form sentences whereas, in Neurolinguistics, it is how the brain extracts speech sounds from an acoustic signal and how the brain separates speech sounds from background noise. Pragmatics is concerned with the role of context in the interpretation of meaning. Semantics deals with the meaning of words and sentences. Morphology in psycholinguistics, deals with the word structures, principally the relationships between related words (such as dog and dogs) and the formation of words based on rules (such as plural formation) while in Neurolinguistics, it is how the brain stores and accesses words that a person knows and finally the Phonetics and phonology are concerned with the study of speech sounds and in psycholinguistics, research focuses on how the brain practice and comprehends these sounds.
Sociolinguistics is 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. Sociolinguistics differs from sociology of language in that the focus of sociolinguistics is the effect of the society on the language, while the latter's focus is on the language's effect on the society. It also studies how language varieties differ between groups separated by certain social variables, e.g. ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level of education, age, etc., and how creation and adherence to these rules is used to categorize individuals in social or socioeconomic classes
A very important concept in sociolinguistics is the concept of different language usage in different social classes. This concept includes speech community, prestige, social network and internal vs. external language. A distinction is drawn between I-language (internal language) and E-language (external language). In this context, internal language applies to the study of syntax and semantics in language on the abstract level; as mentally represented knowledge in a native speaker. External language applies to language in social contexts, i.e. behavioral habits shared by a community. Speech community describes a more or less discrete group of people who use language in a unique and mutually accepted way among themselves.
Prestige implies the negative or the positive connotation given to any language pattern used in a community. Whereas, in a social network, understanding of a language is essential, yet it is determined by the way members interact with each other and this network could be loose or tight depending on the interaction among the community members.
REFERENCES:
http://al.brody.com.ua/Branches%20of%20Linguistics.html
http://englishgarden.nice-forum.com/t4008-linguistics-and-its-branches
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonetics
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