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Compare Ling and Applied Ling

Linguistics is the scientific study of language, its structure and development, and involves subareas such as phonology, semantics and morphology. Applied linguistics is a branch of linguistics that focuses on the practical applications of language studies, such as identifying and solving language-related problems. The key difference between linguistics and applied linguistics is that the former studies the structure and development of language scientifically, while the latter focuses on practical applications of language studies.

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302 views

Compare Ling and Applied Ling

Linguistics is the scientific study of language, its structure and development, and involves subareas such as phonology, semantics and morphology. Applied linguistics is a branch of linguistics that focuses on the practical applications of language studies, such as identifying and solving language-related problems. The key difference between linguistics and applied linguistics is that the former studies the structure and development of language scientifically, while the latter focuses on practical applications of language studies.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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Difference Between Linguistics and

Applied Linguistics
22

The key difference between linguistics and applied linguistics is that linguistics is the
scientific study of the structure and development of language in general or of
particular languages whereas applied linguistics is the branch of linguistics focusing
on the practical applications of language studies.

Linguistics is the scientific study of language and its structure. It has many branches such as
sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, dialectology, comparative
linguistics, and structural linguistics. Applied linguistics is also a branch of linguistics, which
study language as it affects real-life situations.

CONTENTS

What is Linguistics?
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It involves language form, language meaning,
and language in context. Basically, it studies how language is formed, how it functions and
how people use it. Linguistics also explores various language-related phenomena such as
language variation, language acquisition, language change over time and, language storage
and process in the human brain. Although some people assume that linguistics is only about
the study of a particular language, this is not so. Linguistics deal with the study of particular
languages, as well as the search for common properties observable in all languages or large
groups of languages.

There are various subareas in linguistics as follows:

• Phonetics – studies speech and sounds


• Phonology – studies the patterning of sounds
• Morphology – studies the structure of words
• Syntax – studies the structure of sentences
• Semantics – studies the literal meaning
• Pragmatics – studies language in context

There are also various subfields in linguistics. Sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, historical
linguistics, and neurolinguistics are some of these fields. Sociolinguistics is the study of
society and language whereas historical linguistics is the study of the change of language
over time. Neurolinguistics, on the other hand, is the study of the structures in the human
brain that underlie grammar and communication.

What is Applied Linguistics?


Applied linguistics is a branch of linguistics that focuses on practical applications of language
studies. In other words, it involves the practical application of linguistics-related
concepts. Moreover, this is a field of study that identifies, investigates, and offers solutions
to language-related problems. Thus, it helps linguists to gain insight into practical problems
such as what are the best methods to teach languages or what are the existing issues in
language policy formulation.

Applied linguistics covers a vast number of areas such as bilingualism, multilingualism,


discourse analysis, language pedagogy, language acquisition, language planning and policy,
and translation. Furthermore, applied linguistics is related to various other fields such as
education, communication, sociology, and anthropology.

What is the Difference Between Linguistics and


Applied Linguistics?
Linguistics is the scientific study of the structure and development of language in general or
of particular languages. In contrast, applied linguistics is the branch of linguistics focusing on
the practical applications of language studies. So, this is the key difference between
linguistics and applied linguistics. Importantly, while some branches of linguistics such as
historical linguistics and comparative linguistics are more concerned with theoretical aspects
of language, applied linguistics is concerned with the practical application of linguistics.

Moreover, linguistics basically focuses on the scientific study of language and its structure
while applied linguistics can identify, explore, and offer solutions to language-related
problems. Therefore, we can consider this as the difference between linguistics and applied
linguistics in terms of their function.
Summary – Linguistics vs Applied Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language, its structure, and development and involves
subareas such as phonology, semantics, morphology, and pragmatics. It also includes
various branches, and applied linguistics is one such branch. The key difference between
linguistics and applied linguistics is that former is the scientific study of the structure and
development of language in general or of particular languages while latter is the branch of
linguistics focusing on the practical applications of language studies.

Reference:

1. “Applied Linguistics.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Feb. 2019,


2. “Linguistics.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Apr. 2019,

Image Courtesy:

1. “Major levels of linguistic structure” By File:Major levels of linguistic structure.jpg: James


J. Thomas and Kristin A. Cook (Ed.)derivative work McSush – File:Major levels of linguistic
structure.jpgThomas, James J. & Cook, Kristin A., ed. (2005) Illuminating the Path: The
Research and Development Agenda for Visual Analytics, National Visualization and
Analytics Center, p. 110 ISBN: 0-7695-2323-4 (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia.
2. “Appliedlinguistics8” By Benjamin Stewart – Own work (CC BY 3.0) via Commons
Wikimedia.

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