In comparison to other scholarly fields, linguistics development has been recent and became popular only in the 1960s. Depending on one's aim, linguistics can be divided into general and applied linguistics. General linguistics develops theories and explains universal regularities of language, while applied linguistics investigate problems of a specific language. In addition, there are more subfields, which a person can use depending on the type of study. They will be shortly described in the upcoming paragraphs and include phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, etymology, and semantics.
1.1. Phonetics.
Phonetics is the systematic study of speech and the sounds of language. Traditionally phoneticians rely on careful listening and observation in order to describe speech sounds. Acoustic Phonetics, Auditory Phonetics and Articulatory Phonetics are the three branches of this study.
1.2. Phonology.
Phonology is a branch of linguistics concerned with the systematic organization of sounds in languages. It has traditionally focused largely on the study of the systems of phonemes in particular languages, but it may also cover any linguistic analysis either at a level beneath the word (including syllable, onset and rime, articulatory gestures, articulatory features, mora, etc.) or at all levels of language where sound is considered to be structured for conveying linguistic meaning. Phonology also includes the study of equivalent organizational systems in sign languages.
1.3. Morphology.
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis, and description of the structure of a given language's morphemes and other linguistic units, such as root words, affixes, parts of speech, intonations and stresses, or implied context.
1.4. Syntax.
Syntax is a set of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences in a given language. The term syntax is also used to refer to the study of such principles and processes.