1 Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language
It is a scientific study because it (a) is based on the systematic investigation of linguistic data
It (b) discovers the nature and rules of the underlying language system
It (c) collects language facts that display some similarities, and generalizations are made about them
The study of language as a whole if often called general linguistics
phonetics(语音学): the study of sounds phonology(音位学): how sounds are put together and used to convey meaning morphology(形态学): how morphemes(词素) are arranged and combined to form words syntax(句法学): the study of rules that govern the combination of words to form grammatically permissible sentences semantics(语义学): the study of meaning pragmatics(语用学): the study of meaning in the c