Branches of Linguistics

Sociolinguistics

• Sociolinguistics concentrates on language in

society, in other words, it tries to examine how
and why people use language as they interact
with other members of their society

• Sociolinguistics examines variety in language

and has shown that language is not merely
used to communicate ideas but also to
communicate our opinion of others and of
ourselves
 Psycholinguistics
• Psycholinguistics deals with the relationship
between language and the mind, focusing mainly
on how language is learnt, stored and occasionally
lost.

• The relationship between language and mind has

two aspects, acquisition and performance, and the
two are intimately linked. What we acquire is the
ability to perform, that is, to use language with
appropriateness, and performance is essential to
complete and successful acquisition.
 Applied Linguistics
• Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of
linguistics that identifies, investigates, and offers
solutions to language-related real-life problems. It
focuses on the relationship between theory and
practice.

• The definition of this branch has broadened over years

to include research in linguistics and related disciplines
to solve practical problems in society. As emerged in
the 1950s, its main target is language teaching. Some
of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are
education, psychology, computer science,
communication research, anthropology, and sociology.
 Stylistics
• Stylistics is the study and interpretation of texts
in regard to their linguistic and tonal style. As a
discipline, it links literary criticism to linguistics. It
does not function as an autonomous domain on
its own, but it can be applied to an understanding
of literature and journalism as well as linguistics.

• Literary stylistics is the area of study where the

linguists combines with the critic so as to achieve
a fuller understanding and appreciation of
literature.
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