“Branches of linguistic”

Macro and micro

linguistics

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Index

Abstract……………………………………………
…. 3
Introduction………………………………………….
3
Bibliography review………………………………..
4
Findings/ results……………………………………
7
Conclusion…………………………………………
…7
Bibliography………………………………………
…. 8

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Abstract
The following research work is presented to the "Linguistics" curricular space
dictated by the teacher Mareco, Maria Alejandra, carried out by the student Tatiana
Sapaguin.
What particularly caught my attention on this subject of macro and micro linguistic is
the importance of these aspects for communication between individuals. Mainly when
learning a foreign language, in this case, English. It is relevant information since it will
allow a greater understanding of linguistics, both at the macro-level and at the micro
level.
As we well know, the study of linguistics is extremely important since we are future
teachers of a language and we must have knowledge of the most important aspects of
it. So, it is really important to know about the branches of linguistics: macro and micro
linguistic.

Introduction
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. In contrast to other language-related
disciplines, linguistics is concerned with describing the rule-governed structures of
languages, determining the extent to which these structures are universal or language-
particular, positing constraints on possible linguistic structures, and explaining why
there is only a fairly narrow range of possible human languages. Linguistic has two
important branches for its study, they are macro linguistic and micro linguistic.
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

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level, or from a more general perspective, while micro-linguistics examines language
on a micro level, or in a more specific and particular way.

Macro-linguistics analyses 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, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics,
computational linguistics, and others.
Unlike macro-linguistics, micro-linguistics studies language and its properties,
structure, and functions specifically; thus, syntax, morphology, phonology, semantics,
and others are all subcategories of micro-linguistics.

Bibliography review

According to the power point presented in classes about this topic, it can be
stated that…

Branches of linguistic:

Micro linguistic: adopts the narrower view it is concerned solely with the structures
of the languages system in itself and for itself. Includes phonetics, phonology,
morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics (level of the language).
 Phonetics: The inventory of sounds in a language.
 Phonology: Rules of how sounds are combined in a language.
 Morphology: Rules of word formation in a language.
 Syntax: Rules of sentence formation in a language.
 Semantics: Rules that govern how meaning is expressed by words and sentences
in a language.

Macro linguistics: adopts the broader view, it is concerned with the way languages
are acquired. Includes sociolinguistic, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, and stylistic
discourse.
 Sociolinguistic: the study of the relations between language and society; how
social factors influence the structure and use of language.
 Psycholinguistic: the study of language and mind: the mental structure and
processes which are involved in the acquisition, comprehension and production of
language.
 Neurolinguistics: the study of language processing and language representation in
the brain.

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 Stylistics: the study of how literary effects can be related to linguistic features. It
usually refers to the study of written language, including literary text, but it also
investigates spoken language sometimes.
 Discourse analysis of text linguistics: the study of the relationship between
language and the context in which language is used. It deals with how sentences in
spoken and written language form larger meaningful units.
 Cognitive linguistics: an approach to the analysis of natural language that focused
on language as an instrument for organizing, processing, and conveying
information.

According to the web side “Wikipedia”, It can be said that…

Macro linguistics is the most comprehensive study of natural languages including

linguistic semantics, pragmatics, and sociolinguistics. The term was introduced by the
American linguist George L. Trager.

Compared to macro linguistics, micro linguistics would study aspects related to the
structure of human languages themselves without worrying about their semantic or
social interaction content.

 Phonetics and phonology: For some authors the phonetics of oral languages was
considered pre linguistic. In other words, sound or gestural articulation was
considered irrelevant to the structure of the language. Although some authors
consider that phonology and morphophonemics are part of micro linguistics.

 Grammar and syntax: The grammatical aspects and the description of the
synthetic structure of a language are the nucleus of the micro linguistic study and,
therefore, they are also part of the more comprehensive approach to languages
that is called macro linguistics.

 Semantics and pragmatics: On the other hand, semantics is considered a

metalinguistic aspect of human communication, that is, an aspect only indirectly
linked to the structure of the language itself. From that point of view, semantics
would have more to do with the study of the general human cognitive system than
with the study of linguistic structures themselves. Trager proposed a more
comprehensive linguistics that included the study of him as an integral part of it.
On the other hand, most promising approaches to pragmatics need to include
general aspects of the human cognitive system and therefore, in the opinion of
some authors, pragmatics cannot be treated strictly within linguistics.

 External linguistics: External linguistics is the part of macro linguistics that studies
what is related to the extra linguistic factors that influence a language. Among the
aspects that would interest external linguistics would be:

o The relationship between the speech of a community and the customs of its
speakers.

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 o The geographical extension and fragmentation in dialects.

The specific disciplines that study these aspects of external linguistics are
sociolinguistics, ethno linguistics, dialectology, and psycholinguistics.

According to a YouTube video which presents information about this topic

expresses that...

Linguistic is divided into two main branches: Macro linguistics and micro linguistics.

What is micro linguistic? Micro linguistic takes care of the side of linguistics that is
concerned with studying language as a structure system with its own rules. It has its
own sub-branches that study each of these rules. These sub-branches are:

 Phonology: Studies speech sounds, how they are combined and arranged to
convey meaning.

 Morphology: Studies the forms of words, and the ways in which words are
related to other words of the same language.

 Syntax: Studies how words are systematically arranged to form sentences and
phrases.

 Semantics/ pragmatics: Studies meaning in language/ within language.

Macro linguistics: focusses on investigate and come up with solutions to

actual problems in language. Five branches are involved in discovering
problems and giving answers to them.

 Psycholinguistics: Studies the relation between language and human mind,

along with the processes involved in language acquisition.

 Sociolinguistics: Is concerned with language in social and cultural context.

 Neuro linguistics: Studies how language is represented in the brain.

 Antropological linguistics: Studies language as a resource and speaking as a

cultural practice.

 Language acquisition: Studies how individuals acquire any language.

Linguistics is one of the main resources of help and support for language teaching.

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Findings/ Results
According to the sites investigated or consulted, we can see that all of them perform
the same classification within these two large fields.

They express that branches are the subdivisions of any work for better
understanding and a part of something larger. Linguistics is a wider and universal
concept of all languages, therefore, it has been described in various branches. These
branches are further divided into MACRO and MICRO divisions.

As we can see throughout this work, the classification that each of the bibliographies
expresses coincide between them. This classification is given as follows:

Micro linguistics: Phonetics, phonology, morphology, grammar and syntax,

pragmatic, and semantic.

Macro linguistics: External linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics,

neurolinguistics, cognitive, stylistics linguistics.

As we can see, each bibliography expresses the importance of knowing linguistics to

know the linguistic system, mainly to learn and acquire any type of language. To
understand the nature of linguistic systems, including their maintenance and change, it

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is crucial to consider them simultaneously both as something embodied in the
individual and as being played out and observable in the larger social context. While it
is only at the micro-level that the processes which apply to the language take place,
the consequences of these processes aggregate and conventionalize at the macro-
level. While the micro- and macro-dimensions of language have traditionally been
studied separately, within separate linguistic traditions, the two are interdependent
and inextricably linked in reality, as they should be in our analyses of maintenance and
change in linguistic systems.

Conclusion
As we have seen throughout the following work, macro linguistics and micro
linguistics are really important aspects when generating communication with other
people. We must take into account all the components that form or take place within
them. As future teachers of a language it is extremely important to know about
linguistics and all that it implies.

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.

Bibliography

 Webside: Wikipedia

 Power Point in the Classroom of “Linguistics”.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j90-7e9AMuI&t=7s

(YouTube video: Macrolinguistics and Microlinguistics)

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