Ax, ex, ics and ologies
Linguistics, as the scientific study of language is commonly divided into various areas, each the subject of strenuous debate about its boundaries and interfaces with other areas.
On this site, for the sake of simplicity, I freely use the term 'speech' to cover phonetics, phonology and phonotactics and 'language' to cover syntax, morphology, and sometimes pragmatics. I hope it is obvious what is meant in each case. The architecture defines the relations between these areas – in a way crucial for acquisition. Metalinguistics is the awareness of linguistic structure, and commonly a co-morbidity issue.
Two of these areas are semantics and the lexicon or vocabulary. I treat these as areas on their own. Literature, poetry and prose, once considered the main reason for any interest in language, plainly do not involve science in the modern sense. But the narrative of stories, the rhythm of poetry, and even the logic of creating them, all enter speech and language therapy.
Here I just thumbnail some of these ideas. The water is murky. For instance, the separate existence of morphology from syntax is disputed in both directions. Here I set such territorial issues aside.
