Linguistics

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Linguistics is the scientific [1] study of language.[2] There are three aspects to this study: language form, language
meaning, and language in context. [3] The earliest activities in the description of language have been attributed to the 4th
century BCE Indian grammarian Pāṇini, who was an early student of linguistics[4][5] and wrote a formal description of
the Sanskrit language in his Aṣṭādhyāyī.[6]

Linguistics analyzes human language as a system for relating sounds (or signs in signed languages)
andmeaning.[7] Phonetics studies acoustic and articulatory properties of the production and perception of speech sounds
and non-speech sounds. The study of language meaning, on the other hand, deals with how languages encode relations
between entities, properties, and other aspects of the world to convey, process, and assign meaning, as well as to
manage and resolve ambiguity. While the study of semantics typically concerns itself withtruth
conditions, pragmatics deals with how context influences meanings.[8]

Grammar is a system of rules which govern the form of the utterances in a given language. It encompasses both
sound[9] and meaning, and includes phonology (how sounds and gestures function together), morphology (the formation
and composition of words), and syntax (the formation and composition of phrases and sentences from words). [10]

In the early 20th century, Ferdinand de Saussure distinguished between the notions of langue and parole in his
formulation of structural linguistics. According to him, parole is the specific utterance of speech, whereas languerefers
to an abstract phenomenon that theoretically defines the principles and system of rules that govern a language. [11] This
distinction resembles the one made by Noam Chomsky between competence and performance, where competence is
individual's ideal knowledge of a language, while performance is the specific way in which it is used.[12]

The formal study of language has also led to the growth of fields like psycholinguistics, which explores the representation
and function of language in the mind; neurolinguistics, which studies language processing in the brain; and language
acquisition, which investigates how children and adults acquire a particular language.

Linguistics also includes non formal approaches to the study of other aspects of human language, such as social,
cultural, historical and political factors. [13] The study of cultural discourses and dialects is the domain of sociolinguistics,
which looks at the relation between linguistic variation and social structures, as well as that of discourse analysis, which
examines the structure of texts and conversations.[14] Research on language through historical and evolutionary
linguistics focuses on how languages change, and on the origin and growth of languages, particularly over an
extended period of time.

Corpus linguistics takes naturally occurring texts or films (in signed languages) as its primary object of analysis, and
studies the variation of grammatical and other features based on such corpora. Stylistics involves the study of patterns
of style: within written, signed, or spoken discourse.[15] Language documentation combines anthropological inquiry with
linguistic inquiry to describe languages and their grammars. Lexicography covers the study and construction of
dictionaries. Computational linguistics applies computer technology to address questions in theoretical linguistics, as
well as to create applications for use in parsing, data retrieval, machine translation, and other areas. People can apply
actual knowledge of a language in translation and interpreting, as well as in language education – the teaching of a
second or foreign language. Policy makers work with governments to implement new plans in education and teaching
which are based on linguistic research.

Areas of study related to linguistics include semiotics (the study of signs and symbols both within language and
without), literary criticism, translation, andspeech-language pathology.

Subfields

Linguistics has many sub-fields concerned with particular aspects of linguistic structure. The theory that elucidates on
these, as propounded by Noam Chomsky, is known as generative theory or universal grammar. These sub-fields range
from those focused primarily on form to those focused primarily on meaning. They also run the gamut of level of analysis
of language, from individual sounds, to words, to phrases, up to cultural discourse.

Sub-fields that focus on a structure-focused study of language:

Phonetics, the study of the physical properties of speech sound production and perception

Phonology, the study of sounds as abstract elements in the speaker's mind that distinguish meaning (phonemes)

Morphology, the study of morphemes, or the internal structures of words and how they can be modified

Syntax, the study of how words combine to form grammatical phrases and sentences
Semantics, the study of the meaning of words (lexical semantics) and fixed word combinations (phraseology), and how
these combine to form themeanings of sentences

Pragmatics, the study of how utterances are used in communicative acts, and the role played by context and non-
linguistic knowledge in the transmission of meaning

Discourse analysis, the analysis of language use in texts (spoken, written, or signed)

Stylistics, the study of linguistic factors (rhetoric, diction, stress) that place a discourse in context

Semiotics, the study of signs and sign processes (semiosis), indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor,
symbolism, signification, and communication.

Relativity[edit]

As constructed popularly through the "Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis", relativists believe that the structure of a particular
language is capable of influencing the cognitive patterns through which a person shapes his or her world view.
Universalists believe that there are commonalities between human perception as there is in the human capacity for
language, while relativists believe that this varies from language to language and person to person. While the Sapir-
Whorf hypothesis is an elaboration of this idea expressed through the writings of American linguists Edward
Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, it was Sapir's studentHarry Hoijer who termed it thus. The 20th century German
linguist Leo Weisgerber also wrote extensively about the theory of relativity. Relativists argue for the case of
differentiation at the level of cognition and in semantic domains. The emergence of cognitive linguistics in the 1980s
also revived an interest in linguistic relativity. Thinkers like George Lakoff have argued that language reflects different
cultural metaphors, while the French philosopher of language Jacques Derrida's writings have been seen to be closely
associated with the relativist movement in linguistics, especially through deconstruction[27] and was even heavily
criticised in the media at the time of his death for his theory of relativism. [28]

Style[edit]

Stylistics is the study and interpretation of texts for aspects of their linguistic and tonal style. Stylistic analysis entails the
analysis of description of particulardialects and registers used by speech communities. Stylistic features
include rhetoric,[29] diction, stress, satire, irony, dialogue, and other forms of phonetic variations. Stylistic analysis can
also include the study of language in canonical works of literature, popular fiction, news, advertisements, and other
forms of communication in popular culture as well. It is usually seen as a variation in communication that changes from
speaker to speaker and community to community. In short, Stylistics is the interpretation of text.

Approach[edit]

Generative vs. functional theories of language[edit]

One major debate in linguistics concerns how language should be defined and understood. Some linguists use the term
"language" primarily to refer to a hypothesized, innate module in the human brain that allows people to undertake
linguistic behavior, which is part of the formalist approach. This "universal grammar" is considered to guide children
when they learn languages and to constrain what sentences are considered grammatical in any language. Proponents
of this view, which is predominant in those schools of linguistics that are based on the generative theory of Noam
Chomsky, do not necessarily consider that language evolved for communication in particular. They consider instead
that it has more to do with the process of structuring human thought (see also formal grammar).

Another group of linguists, by contrast, use the term "language" to refer to a communication system that developed to
support cooperative activity and extend cooperative networks. Such theories of grammar, called "functional", view
language as a tool that emerged and is adapted to the communicative needs of its users, and the role of cultural
evolutionary processes are often emphasized over that of biological evolution.[30]

Methodology[edit]

Linguistics is primarily descriptive. Linguists describe and explain features of language without making subjective
judgments on whether a particular feature or usage is "good" or "bad". This is analogous to practice in other sciences:
a zoologist studies the animal kingdom without making subjective judgments on whether a particular species is "better"
or "worse" than another.

Prescription, on the other hand, is an attempt to promote particular linguistic usages over others, often favoring a
particular dialect or "acrolect". This may have the aim of establishing a linguistic standard, which can aid communication
over large geographical areas. It may also, however, be an attempt by speakers of one language or dialect to exert
influence over speakers of other languages or dialects (see Linguistic imperialism). An extreme version of prescriptivism
can be found among censors, who attempt to eradicate words and structures that they consider to be destructive to
society. Prescription, however, is practiced in the teaching of language, where certain fundamental grammatical rules
and lexical terms need to be introduced to a second-language speaker who is attempting to acquire the language.

Analysis[edit]

Before the 20th century, linguists analyzed language on a diachronic plane, which was historical in focus. This meant
that they would compare linguistic features and try to analyze language from the point of view of how it had changed
between then and later. However, with Saussurean linguistics in the 20th century, the focus shifted to a
more synchronic approach, where the study was more geared towards analysis and comparison between different
language variations, which existed at the same given point of time.

At another level, the syntagmatic plane of linguistic analysis entails the comparison between the way words are
sequenced, within the syntax of a sentence. For example, the article "the" is followed by a noun, because of the
syntagmatic relation between the words. The paradigmatic plane on the other hand, focuses on an analysis that is based
on the paradigms or concepts that are embedded in a given text. In this case, words of the same type or class may be
replaced in the text with each other to achieve the same conceptual understanding.

Anthropology[edit]

The objective of describing languages is often to uncover cultural knowledge about communities. The use
of anthropological methods of investigation on linguistic sources leads to the discovery of certain cultural traits among
a speech community through its linguistic features. It is also widely used as a tool inlanguage documentation, with an
endeavor to curate endangered languages. However, now, linguistic inquiry uses the anthropological method to
understand cognitive, historical, sociolinguistic and historical processes that languages undergo as they change and
evolve, as well as general anthropological inquiry uses the linguistic method to excavate into culture. In all aspects,
anthropological inquiry usually uncovers the different variations and relativities that underlie the usage of language.

Sources[edit]

Most contemporary linguists work under the assumption that spoken data and signed data is more fundamental
than written data. This is because:

Speech appears to be universal to all human beings capable of producing and perceiving it, while there have been
many cultures and speech communities that lack written communication;

Features appear in speech which aren't always recorded in writing, including phonological rules, sound changes,
and speech errors;

All natural writing systems reflect a spoken language (or potentially a signed one) they are being used to write, with
even pictographic scripts like Dongbawriting Naxi homophones with the same pictogram, and text in writing systems
used for two languages changing to fit the spoken language being recorded;

Speech evolved before human beings invented writing;

People learnt to speak and process spoken language more easily and earlier than they did with writing.

Nonetheless, linguists agree that the study of written language can be worthwhile and valuable. For research that relies
on corpus linguistics and computational linguistics, written language is often much more convenient for processing large
amounts of linguistic data. Large corpora of spoken language are difficult to create and hard to find, and are
typically transcribed and written. In addition, linguists have turned to text-based discourse occurring in various formats
ofcomputer-mediated communication as a viable site for linguistic inquiry.

The study of writing systems themselves, graphemics, is, in any case, considered a branch of linguistics.

History of linguistic thought[edit]

Main article: History of linguistics

Early grammarians[edit]

Main articles: Philology and History of English grammars

The formal study of language began in India with Pāṇini, the 5th century BC grammarian who formulated 3,959 rules
ofSanskrit morphology. Pāṇini's systematic classification of the sounds of Sanskrit into consonants and vowels, and
word classes, such as nouns and verbs, was the first known instance of its kind. In the Middle East, Sibawayh, a non-
Arab, made a detailed description of Arabic in 760 AD in his monumental work, Al-kitab fi al-nahw (‫الكتاب في النحو‬, The
Book on Grammar), the first known author to distinguish between sounds and phonemes (sounds as units of a linguistic
system). Western interest in the study of languages began somewhat later than in the East,[31] but the grammarians of
the classical languages did not use the same methods or reach the same conclusions as their contemporaries in the
Indic world. Early interest in language in the West was a part of philosophy, not of grammatical description. The first
insights into semantic theory were made by Plato in his Cratylus dialogue, where he argues that words denote concepts
that are eternal and exist in the world of ideas. This work is the first to use the word etymology to describe the history of
a word's meaning. Around 280 BC, one of Alexander the Great's successors founded a university (see Musaeum)
inAlexandria, where a school of philologists studied the ancient texts in and taught Greek to speakers of other
languages. While this school was the first to use the word "grammar" in its modern sense, Plato had used the word in
its original meaning as "téchnē grammatikḗ" (Τέχνη Γραμματική), the "art of writing", which is also the title of one of the
most important works of the Alexandrine school by Dionysius Thrax.[32] Throughout the Middle Ages, the study of
language was subsumed under the topic of philology, the study of ancient languages and texts, practiced by such
educators as Roger Ascham, Wolfgang Ratke, and John Amos Comenius.[33]

Comparative philology[edit]

In the 18th century, the first use of the comparative method by William Jones sparked the rise of comparative
linguistics.[34] Bloomfield attributes "the first great scientific linguistic work of the world" to Jacob Grimm, who
wrote Deutsche Grammatik.[35] It was soon followed by other authors writing similar comparative studies on other
language groups of Europe. The scientific study of language was broadened from Indo-European to language in general
by Wilhelm von Humboldt, of whom Bloomfield asserts:[35]

This study received its foundation at the hands of the Prussian statesman and scholar Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–
1835), especially in the first volume of his work on Kavi, the literary language of Java, entitled Über die Verschiedenheit
des menschlichen Sprachbaues und ihren Einfluß auf die geistige Entwickelung des Menschengeschlechts (On the
Variety of the Structure of Human Language and its Influence upon the Mental Development of the Human Race).

Structuralism[edit]

Main article: Structuralism (linguistics)

Early in the 20th century, Saussure introduced the idea of language as a static system of interconnected units, defined
through the oppositions between them. By introducing a distinction between diachronic to synchronic analyses of
language, he laid the foundation of the modern discipline of linguistics. Saussure also introduced several basic
dimensions of linguistic analysis that are still foundational in many contemporary linguistic theories, such as the
distinctions betweensyntagm and paradigm, and the langue- parole distinction, distinguishing language as an abstract
system (langue) from language as a concrete manifestation of this system (parole).[36] Substantial additional
contributions following Saussure's definition of a structural approach to language came from The Prague
school, Leonard Bloomfield, Charles F. Hockett, Louis Hjelmslev, Émile Benveniste and Roman Jakobson.[37][38]

Generativism[edit]

Main article: Generative linguistics

During the last half of the 20th century, following the work of Noam Chomsky, linguistics was dominated by
the generativist school. While formulated by Chomsky in part as a way to explain how human beings acquire
language and the biological constraints on this acquisition, in practice it has largely been concerned with giving formal
accounts of specific phenomena in natural languages. Generative theory is modularist and formalist in character.
Chomsky built on earlier work of Zellig Harris to formulate the generative theory of language. According to this theory
the most basic form of language is a set of syntactic rules universal for all humans and underlying the grammars of all
human languages. This set of rules is called Universal Grammar, and for Chomsky describing it is the primary objective
of the discipline of linguistics. For this reason the grammars of individual languages are of importance to linguistics only
in so far as they allow us to discern the universal underlying rules from which the observable linguistic variability is
generated.

In the classic formalisation of generative grammars first proposed by Noam Chomsky in the 1950s,[39][40] a
grammar G consists of the following components:

A finite set N of nonterminal symbols, none of which appear in strings formed from G.

A finite set of terminal symbols that is disjoint from N.

A finite set P of production rules, that map from one string of symbols to another.

A formal description of language attempts to replicate a speaker's knowledge of the rules of their language, and the aim
is to produce a set of rules that is minimally sufficient to successfully model valid linguistic forms.

Functionalism[edit]

Main article: Functional theories of grammar

Functional theories of language propose that since language is fundamentally a tool, it is reasonable to assume that its
structures are best analyzed and understood with reference to the functions they carry out. Functional theories of
grammar differ from formal theories of grammar, in that the latter seek to define the different elements of language and
describe the way they relate to each other as systems of formal rules or operations, whereas the former defines the
functions performed by language and then relates these functions to the linguistic elements that carry them out. This
means that functional theories of grammar tend to pay attention to the way language is actually used, and not just to
the formal relations between linguistic elements.[41]

Functional theories describe language in term of the functions existing at all levels of language.

Phonological function: the function of the phoneme is to distinguish between different lexical material.

Semantic function: (Agent, Patient, Recipient, etc.), describing the role of participants in states of affairs or actions
expressed.

Syntactic functions: (e.g. subject and Object), defining different perspectives in the presentation of a linguistic
expression

Pragmatic functions: (Theme and Rheme, Topic and Focus, Predicate), defining the informational status of constituents,
determined by the pragmatic context of the verbal interaction. Functional descriptions of grammar strive to explain how
linguistic functions are performed in communication through the use of linguistic forms.

Cognitive linguistics[edit]

Main article: Cognitive linguistics

Cognitive linguistics interprets language in terms of concepts (sometimes universal, sometimes specific to a particular
tongue) that underlie its form. It is thus closely associated with semantics but is distinct from psycholinguistics, which
draws upon empirical findings from cognitive psychology in order to explain the mental processes that underlie the
acquisition, storage, production and understanding of speech and writing. Unlike generative theory, cognitive
linguisticsdenies that there is an autonomous linguistic faculty in the mind; it understands grammar in terms
of conceptualization; and claims that knowledge of language arises out of language use.[42] Because of its conviction
that knowledge of language is learned through use, cognitive linguistics is sometimes considered to be a functional
approach, but it differs from other functional approaches in that it is primarily concerned with how the mind creates
meaning through language, and not with the use of language as a tool of communication.

Areas of research[edit]

Historical linguistics[edit]

Historical linguists study the history of specific languages as well as general characteristics of language change. The
study of language change is also referred to as "diachronic linguistics" (the study of how one particular language has
changed over time), which can be distinguished from "synchronic linguistics" (the comparative study of more than one
language at a given moment in time without regard to previous stages). Historical linguistics was among the first sub-
disciplines to emerge in linguistics, and was the most widely practiced form of linguistics in the late 19th century.
However, there was a shift to the synchronic approach in the early twentieth century with Saussure, and became more
predominant in western linguistics with the work of Noam Chomsky.

Sociolinguistics[edit]

Sociolinguistics is the study of how language is shaped by social factors. This sub-discipline focuses on the synchronic
approach of linguistics, and looks at how a language in general, or a set of languages, display variation and varieties at
a given point in time. The study of language variation and the different varieties of language through dialects, registers,
and ideolects can be tackled through a study of style, as well as through analysis of discourse. Sociolinguists research
on both style and discourse in language, and also study the theoretical factors that are at play between language and
society.

Developmental linguistics[edit]

Developmental linguistics is the study of the development of linguistic ability in individuals, particularly the acquisition of
language in childhood. Some of the questions that developmental linguistics looks into is how children acquire language,
how adults can acquire a second language, and what the process of language acquisition is.

Neurolinguistics[edit]

Neurolinguistics is the study of the structures in the human brain that underlie grammar and communication.
Researchers are drawn to the field from a variety of backgrounds, bringing along a variety of experimental techniques
as well as widely varying theoretical perspectives. Much work in 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 propose are necessary in producing and comprehending language.
Neurolinguists study the physiological mechanisms by which the brain processes information related to language, and
evaluate linguistic and psycholinguistic theories, using aphasiology, brain imaging, electrophysiology, and computer
modeling.

Applied linguistics[edit]

Main article: Applied linguistics

Linguists are largely concerned with finding and describing the generalities and varieties both within particular
languages and among all languages. Applied linguistics takes the results of those findings and "applies" them to other
areas. Linguistic research is commonly applied to areas such as language
education,lexicography, translation, language planning, which involves governmental policy implementation related to
language use, and natural language processing. "Applied linguistics" has been argued to be something of a
misnomer.[43] Applied linguists actually focus on making sense of and engineering solutions for real-world linguistic
problems, and not literally "applying" existing technical knowledge from linguistics. Moreover, they commonly apply
technical knowledge from multiple sources, such as sociology (e.g., conversation analysis) and anthropology.
(Constructed language fits under Applied linguistics.)

Today, computers are widely used in many areas of applied linguistics. Speech synthesis and speech recognition use
phonetic and phonemic knowledge to provide voice interfaces to computers. Applications of computational
linguistics in machine translation, computer-assisted translation, and natural language processing are areas of applied
linguistics that have come to the forefront. Their influence has had an effect on theories of syntax and semantics, as
modeling syntactic and semantic theories on computers constraints.

Linguistic analysis is a sub-discipline of applied linguistics used by many governments to verify the claimed nationality of
people seeking asylum who do not hold the necessary documentation to prove their claim. [44] This often takes the form
of an interview by personnel in an immigration department. Depending on the country, this interview is conducted either
in the asylum seeker's native language through an interpreter or in an international lingua franca like English.[44]Australia
uses the former method, while Germany employs the latter; the Netherlands uses either method depending on the
languages involved.[44] Tape recordings of the interview then undergo language analysis, which can be done either by
private contractors or within a department of the government. In this analysis, linguistic features of the asylum seeker
are used by analysts to make a determination about the speaker's nationality. The reported findings of the linguistic
analysis can play a critical role in the government's decision on the refugee status of the asylum seeker. [44]

Interdisciplinary fields[edit]

Within the broad discipline of linguistics, various emerging sub-disciplines focus on a more detailed description and
analysis of language, and are often organized on the basis of the school of thought and theoretical approach that they
pre-suppose, or the external factors that influence them.

Semiotics[edit]
Semiotics is the study of sign processes (semiosis), or signification and communication, signs, and symbols, both
individually and grouped into sign systems, including the study of how meaning is constructed and understood.
Semioticians often do not restrict themselves to linguistic communication when studying the use of signs but extend the
meaning of "sign" to cover all kinds of cultural symbols. Nonetheless, semiotic disciplines closely related to linguistics
are literary studies, discourse analysis, text linguistics, and philosophy of language. Semiotics, within the linguistics
paradigm, is the study of the relationship between language and culture. Historically, Edward Sapir and Ferdinand De
Saussure's structuralist theories influenced the study of signs extensively until the late part of the 20th century, but later,
post-modern and post-structural thought, through language philosophers including Jacques Derrida, Mikhail
Bakhtin, Michel Foucault, and others, have also been a considerable influence on the discipline in the late part of the
20th century and early 21st century. [45] These theories emphasise the role of language variation, and the idea of
subjective usage, depending on external elements like social and cultural factors, rather than merely on the interplay of
formal elements.

Language documentation[edit]

Since the inception of the discipline of linguistics, linguists have been concerned with describing and analysing
previously undocumented languages. Starting with Franz Boas in the early 1900s, this became the main focus of
American linguistics until the rise of formal structural linguistics in the mid-20th century. This focus on language
documentation was partly motivated by a concern to document the rapidly disappearing languages of indigenous
peoples. The ethnographic dimension of the Boasian approach to language description played a role in the development
of disciplines such as sociolinguistics,anthropological linguistics, and linguistic anthropology, which investigate the
relations between language, culture, and society.

The emphasis on linguistic description and documentation has also gained prominence outside North America, with the
documentation of rapidly dying indigenous languages becoming a primary focus in many university programs in
linguistics. Language description is a work-intensive endeavour, usually requiring years of field work in the language
concerned, so as to equip the linguist to write a sufficiently accurate reference grammar. Further, the task of
documentation requires the linguist to collect a substantial corpus in the language in question, consisting of texts and
recordings, both sound and video, which can be stored in an accessible format within open repositories, and used for
further research.[46]

Translation[edit]

The sub-field of translation includes the translation of written and spoken texts across mediums, from digital to print and
spoken. To translate literally means to transmute the meaning from one language into another. Translators are often
employed by organisations, such as travel agencies as well as governmental embassies to facilitate communication
between two speakers who do not know each other's language. Translators are also employed to work
withincomputational linguistics setups like Google Translate for example, which is an automated, programmed facility
to translate words and phrases between any two or more given languages. Translation is also conducted by publishing
houses, which convert works of writing from one language to another in order to reach varied audiences. Academic
Translators, specialize and semi specialize on various other disciplines such as; Technology, Science, Law, Economics
etc.

Biolinguistics[edit]

Biolinguistics is the study of natural as well as human-taught communication systems in animals, compared to human
language. Researchers in the field of biolinguistics have also over the years questioned the possibility and extent of
language in animals.

Clinical linguistics[edit]

Clinical linguistics is the application of linguistic theory to the fields of Speech-Language Pathology. Speech language
pathologists work on corrective measures to cure communication disorders and swallowing disorders

Chaika (1990) showed that schizophrenics with speech disorders, like rhyming inappropriately have attentional
dysfunction, as when a patient, shown a color chip and, then asked to identify it, responded "Looks like clay. Sounds
like gray. Take you for a roll in the hay. Heyday, May Day." The color chip was actually clay-colored, so his first response
was correct.'

However, normals suppress or ignore words which rhyme with what they've said unless they are deliberately producing
a pun, poem or rap. Even then, the speaker shows connection between words chosen for rhyme and an overall meaning
in discourse. schizophrenics with speech dysfunction show no such relation between rhyme and reason. Some even
produce stretches of gibberish combined with recognizable words.
[47] copyright Elaine Ostrach Chaika>
Computational linguistics[edit]

Computational linguistics is the study of linguistic issues in a way that is 'computationally responsible', i.e., taking careful
note of computational consideration of algorithmic specification and computational complexity, so that the linguistic
theories devised can be shown to exhibit certain desirable computational properties and their implementations.
Computational linguists also work on computer language and software development.

Evolutionary linguistics[edit]

Evolutionary linguistics is the interdisciplinary study of the emergence of the language faculty through human evolution,
and also the application of evolutionary theory to the study of cultural evolution among different languages. It is also a
study of the dispersal of various languages across the globe, through movements among ancient communities. [48]

Forensic linguistics[edit]

Forensic linguistics is the application of linguistic analysis to forensics. Forensic analysis investigates on the style,
language, lexical use, and other linguistic and grammatical features used in the legal context to provide evidence in
courts of law. Forensic linguists have also contributed expertise in criminal cases.