BA in Linguistics - Cognition and Language in La Jolla United States | University of California, San Diego

When developing theories about language, researchers have observed that languages exhibit complex structures across multiple levels. Phonetics examines speech sounds, including their production and perception. Phonology explores how a language organizes sounds into systems and combines them into syllables and larger structures. Morphology investigates how meaningful elements combine to form words. Syntax analyzes the rules governing word combinations into phrases and sentences. Semantics deals with meaning—how word meanings connect to larger units like phrases, sentences, and discourse. Linguists seek to determine which principles vary between languages and which remain universal across both spoken and signed languages.