Name : Liza Amalia

Macro linguistic “examines large amounts of language data to draw broad conclusions
about group relationship” (Wardhaugh 2010: 16). Macro-linguistics and micro-linguistics are
both fields of study of linguistics that focus on language and its form and meaning and the
changes that occur to that form and meaning due to other factors; macro-linguistics examines
language on a macro level, or from a more general perspective, while micro-linguistics examines
language on a micro level, or in a more specific and particular way.1

Macro-linguistics analyzes language beyond its most basic functions and context—it
focuses on the social, cultural psychological, and neurological factors and how they're connected
to the language and its structure. Thus, there are several subcategories of macro-linguistics, such
as sociolinguistics (language and society), psycholinguistics (language and psychology),
neurolinguistics (language and neurology), computational linguistics (language and IT), and
others. Macro Linguistic deals with the relation of the language with all the aspects beyond of the
language itself. For example: social factors, psychology, anthropology, and neurology.

Subfields of Macro linguistic:

 Psycholinguistics:
It is the study of language and mind; the mental structures and processes which are
involved in the acquisition, comprehension and production of language. Most work in
psycholinguistics has been done on the learning of language by children. Language is
extremely complex, however children learn it quickly and with ease; thus, the study of
child language is important for psychologists interested in cognition and learning. In the
1960s, research on language acquisition was strongly influenced by Chomsky’s theory
of generative grammar (mentalist theory) that children are born with an understanding of
the ways languages work which was referred to as “Universal Grammar”. They would
know underlying principles of language and that children would need only enough
exposure to the language. But others have argued that it is not grammatical competence
as such that is innate but more general cognitive principles.
 Sociolinguistics:
It studies the relationship between language and society. The study of the effect of
society, including culture norms, expectations and context, on the language is used. For
1
https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-are-micro-linguistics-and-macro-linguistics-
518599#:~:text=Macro%2Dlinguistics%20is%20the%20study%20of%20broad%20influences%20on
%20language,societies%20and%20cultures%20influence%20language.
 example a study of language variation according to such factors as the speakers’ social
class. This is the broad area of investigation as it has the strong connections with
culture, social groups and institutions. It Influences on the choice of sounds,
grammatical elements, and vocabulary items may be because of such factors as age, sex,
education, occupation, race, and peer-group identification, among others. For example, a
person may use such forms as “He don’t know nothing” or “He doesn’t know anything,”
depending on his level of education, race, social class or perception, or context.
 Applied linguistics:
“Applied linguistics is the knowledge about the nature of language achieved by
linguistic research for the improvement of the efficiency of some practical task in which
language is the central component.” (Corder, 1974: 24)
Applied linguistics deal with the application of linguistics to the study and improvement
of language teaching and language learning and language planning, communication
between groups, speech therapy and the language handicap, systems of communication,
translating, interpreting, lexicography
 Computational linguistics:
It is the approach to linguistics which implies mathematical techniques often with the
help of a computer. Computational linguistic, makes use of electronic digital computers.
Computational analysis is most frequently applied to the handling of basic language data
e.g., making concordances and counting frequencies of sounds, words, and word
elements e. t. c.
 Anthropological linguistics:
Concern of anthropological linguistics is to study the relationship between language and
culture i. e. to what extent the structure, form, context of a particular language is
determined. Vocabulary differences between languages give rise to cultural differences.
Anthropological linguists study the languages of humans and the rules that make these
languages work. Like culture, languages are learned and shared. When two people who
speak different languages meet, they may not be able to communicate. The sounds one
person produces may have no meaning in the other person’s language, or, sometimes
embarrassingly, the sounds have very different meanings. Anthropological linguists also
study how meaning is conveyed by people and the histories of languages.

 Mathematical linguistics:
Mathematical linguistics comprises two areas of research: the study of the statistical
structure of texts also called statistical linguistics and the construction of mathematical
models of the phonological and grammatical structure of languages also called algebraic
linguistics are distinct from each other.
 Stylistics:
Stylistics is a modern branch of linguistics which is concerned to the study of “style” or
the linguistic choices made by speakers and writers, especially in literary texts as well as
 in other non-literary contexts such as advertisements, film and media, political speeches,
casual conversations, etc. Stylistic analysis involves examination of grammar, lexis,
semantics, syntax, phonological properties and informal devices in a given work. In this
way, Stylistics includes discourse analyses.
 Pragmatics:
The term pragmatics was coined in the 1930s by the philosopher C.W. Morris.
Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics concerned with the use of language in social
contexts and the ways in which people produce and comprehend meanings through
language. Pragmatists focus on what is implicitly stated and on how we interpret
utterances in situational contexts. It is concerned with what is communicated by the
manner and style of an utterance.
 Historical linguistics:
Historical linguistics is the branch of linguistics concerned with the development of a
language or of languages over time, traditionally known as philology.It is a way of
identifying relations among languages in the absence of written records.
 Linguistics typology:
The branch of linguistics that studies the structural similarities between languages,
regardless of their history of languages is known as typological linguistics. It is the
analysis, comparison, and classification of languages according to their common
structural features and forms.
 Neurolinguistics :
It is the study of language processing in the brain, with an emphasis on the processing of
spoken language when certain areas of the brain are damaged. Its subject matter is the
relationship between the human nervous system and language. The primary goal is to
understand and explicate the neurological bases of language and speech, and to
characterize the mechanisms and processes involve in language use. It includes language
and speech impairments in the adult aphasias and in children, as well as reading
disabilities.
Hence, macro linguistic view includes the levels of analysis mentioned above, as well as
other aspects of language and its relationship with many areas of human activity.2

In conclusion, macro-linguistics studies language and the influences on language in

general, while micro-linguistics studies language and all of its properties, elements, and
concepts in greater detail. Some argue that macro-linguistics focuses more on society
and the way it influences language, while micro-linguistics focuses more on language
itself and its elements.

2
https://www.academia.edu/33115847/macrolinguistics_docx