Linguistics can be referred to as the scientific study of language. It involves the analysis of the many different aspects such as the meaning, form and context of language. Studying linguistics will make you familiar with the different components that make up a language. Here are the major branches of linguistics: Phonology, Phonetics, Syntax, Semantics, Morphology, Pragmatics. A phonetician might, for example, look at how stress manifests in a language. In English, the stressed word in a normal sentence is loud.