Language Documentation - Types of Language Description

Types of Language Description

Language description, as a task within linguistics, may be divided into separate areas of specialization, including:

  • Phonetics, the study of the sounds of human language
  • Phonology, the study of the sound system of a language
  • Morphology, the study of the internal structure of words
  • Syntax, the study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences
  • Semantics, the study of the meaning of words (lexical semantics), and how these combine to form the meanings of sentences
  • Historical linguistics, the study of languages whose historical relations are recognizable through similarities in vocabulary, word formation, and syntax
  • Pragmatics, the study of how language is used by its speakers
  • Stylistics, the study of style in languages
  • Paremiography, the collection of proverbs and sayings

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