理り論ろん言げん語ご学がく

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Meanings

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noun

theoretical linguistics

Academic field that studies the abstract structure of language, as opposed to applied or descriptive linguistics.

logic, arrangement, reason

論argument, discourse

言say, word

語word, speech, language

学study, learning, science

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Applied linguistics; focuses on practical language use, teaching, and translation, while 理論言語学 deals with abstract models.
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Descriptive linguistics; documents and describes specific languages, whereas 理論言語学 builds general theories.

Compound of 理論 (theory) and 言語学 (linguistics). The term is a direct calque from English 'theoretical linguistics'.