- Historical linguists are primarily concerned with the history of a language or family of languages and its usage. For instance, many Western languages are founded in a common Indo-European ancestor. Historical linguists have pursued the etymology of many European words in the Indian Sanskrit. The historical linguist can assist in tracing societies and migrations of peoples via their spoken and written language.
- The role of applied linguists is one that optimizes the knowledge of language and its workings to devise methods for language learning and other practical applications. Most universities offer an introductory course in Applied Linguistics at the undergraduate level because they recognize the value of the discipline in understanding language students' needs. Systemic functional linguistics, developed by linguist Michael Halliday completely revised way that grammar education is approached in many school systems throughout the world.
- In much the same way as anthropologists or sociologists study society, social linguists study how a language fits into the society where it is spoken. Initially an offshoot of applied linguistics, this particular branch of linguistics has grown in its own right in that its adherents can determine the specific designs of language and culturally based language programs to suit a region.
- Theoretical linguists describe theories about parts of communication that have applications universally and their usages in language. The linguist Noam Chomsky, and his generative grammar system explained how children are born with an innate sense of language and grammar. That is, as the child hears and acquires language he or she devises grammar rules to fit the language that is heard.
- Autonomous linguistics studies languages for their own sake. While there may be extraneous forces shaping and molding a society and its speech, this is of little concern to the autonomous linguist. Autonomous linguists oppose the view that children generate their own grammars, as Chomsky said, and instead hold the view that grammar is learned and a process acquired from exposure.
