The study of language in general is often termed general linguistics. It is based on the view that language as a system is composed of three aspects: sound, structure and meaning. The core of general linguistics is the study of these aspects, dealing with the regularities of these across languages. The correspondence between the branches of linguistics and the three aspects of language can be diagramed as:

　　The difference between the two branches dealing with the same aspect will be discussed respectively in the following six chapters.