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Subfield · Social Sciences

Linguistics and Language research

Linguistics and Language is a subfield of Social Sciences. Science Explorer counts 126k research works in it since 1950. 19.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: book by Julia S. Falk.

Research works
126k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
25k
per year above
Top-10% rate
19.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
6
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+20%
the tick is no change

What is Linguistics and Language research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Multilingualism, Sociolinguistics, Language Policy, Bilingual Education, Translanguaging, Culture. Gaining share since 2009–13: Culture, Language, Sociolinguistics. Losing share: Language Change, Sociolinguistic Variation, Intercultural Communication, Language Education.

▲ gaining share of this field◆ holding its share▼ losing share

Size is the world's fractional works in 2019–23 in the topics tagged with each word; colour compares the word's share of this field with 2009–13. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 16 words, with their numbers
  1. Multilingualism23k◆ 1.10×4 topics
  2. Sociolinguistics19k▲ 1.19×3 topics
  3. Language Policy13k◆ 1.11×2 topics
  4. Bilingual Education10k◆ 1.14×1 topic
  5. Translanguaging10k◆ 1.14×1 topic
  6. Culture6,293▲ 1.37×1 topic
  7. Language6,293▲ 1.37×1 topic
  8. Language Change6,091▼ 0.78×1 topic
  9. Sociolinguistic Variation6,091▼ 0.78×1 topic
  10. Political Discourse4,931◆ 0.92×2 topics
  11. Intercultural Communication4,031▼ 0.83×1 topic
  12. Language Education4,031▼ 0.83×1 topic
  13. Discourse Analysis2,524▼ 0.85×1 topic
  14. Ideology2,524▼ 0.85×1 topic
  15. Language Diversity2,406◆ 1.02×1 topic
  16. Youth Language2,406◆ 1.02×1 topic

Which countries lead Linguistics and Language research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, the United States, the United Kingdom and China rank highest in Linguistics and Language. By volume, Poland and France publish the most (3.7k and 3k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States · #1 all time 27.1% top 10% · 3k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom · #2 all time 29.4% top 10% · 931 works
  3. 3 China · #8 all time 27.8% top 10% · 763 works
  4. 4 Hong Kong · #7 all time 46.7% top 10% · 222 works
  5. 5 Australia · #4 all time 39.1% top 10% · 464 works
  6. 6 Germany · #5 all time 25.0% top 10% · 690 works
  7. 7 Spain · #6 all time 17.5% top 10% · 985 works
  8. 8 Canada · #3 all time 21.1% top 10% · 774 works
  9. 9 France · #10 all time 6.0% top 10% · 3k works
  10. 10 South Africa · #13 all time 32.4% top 10% · 379 works

The track on each row is that row’s top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the composite score, which the rate is only one part of.

Of 26 countries ranked in Linguistics and Language. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Linguistics and Language

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Poland 3.7k works
  2. 2 France 3k works
  3. 3 United States 3k works
  4. 4 Spain 985 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 931 works
  6. 6 Canada 774 works
  7. 7 Indonesia 764 works
  8. 8 China 763 works
  9. 9 Germany 690 works
  10. 10 Brazil 510 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

Poland: 24.6%France: 19.8%United States: 19.8%Spain: 6.5%6 others listed: 29.3%25%largest
Poland3,711 · 24.6%France2,996 · 19.8%United States2,987 · 19.8%Spain985 · 6.5%6 others listed4,433 · 29.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Linguistics and Language research?

University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) ranks first in Linguistics and Language on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by University of British Columbia and University of the Basque Country.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of Cambridge United Kingdom · Cambridge · #13 all time 22.5% top 10% · 94 works
  2. 2 University of British Columbia Canada · Vancouver · #2 all time 40.7% top 10% · 67 works
  3. 3 University of the Basque Country Spain · Leioa · #35 all time 29.2% top 10% · 60 works
  4. 4 University of Toronto Canada · Toronto · #1 all time 22.3% top 10% · 83 works
  5. 5 Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań Poland · Poznan · #60 all time 5.6% top 10% · 345 works
  6. 6 University of Helsinki Finland · Helsinki · #42 all time 29.7% top 10% · 65 works
  7. 7 Jagiellonian University Poland · Krakow · #90 all time 5.0% top 10% · 362 works
  8. 8 University of Łódź Poland · Lodz 8.2% top 10% · 201 works
  9. 9 University of Warsaw Poland · Warsaw · #63 all time 4.8% top 10% · 354 works
  10. 10 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France · Paris · #66 all time 12.5% top 10% · 94 works

The track on each row is that row’s top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the composite score, which the rate is only one part of.

Of 29 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Linguistics and Language.

Top 100 Linguistics and Language institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Jagiellonian UniversityPoland 362 works
  2. 2 University of WarsawPoland 354 works
  3. 3 Adam Mickiewicz University in PoznańPoland 345 works
  4. 4 University of ŁódźPoland 201 works
  5. 5 Maria Curie-Skłodowska UniversityPoland 149 works
  6. 6 University of Silesia in KatowicePoland 145 works
  7. 7 University of WrocławPoland 137 works
  8. 8 John Paul II Catholic University of LublinPoland 128 works
  9. 9 Université Sorbonne NouvelleFrance 123 works
  10. 10 University of GdańskPoland 118 works

Who are the leading researchers in Linguistics and Language?

Among the most productive authors in Linguistics and Language, Pierre Bourdıeu, Noam Chomsky and Jacques Derrida rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France · #2 worldwide 10k citations · 235 works
  2. 2 Noam Chomsky United States · #7 worldwide 3.7k citations · 239 works
  3. 3 Jacques Derrida France · #82 worldwide 1.3k citations · 192 works
  4. 4 Teun A. van Dijk Spain · #680 worldwide 2.5k citations · 107 works
  5. 5 Jack Goody United Kingdom · #1,614 worldwide 708 citations · 137 works
  6. 6 Joshua A. Fishman United States · #1,693 worldwide 1.1k citations · 125 works
  7. 7 Geoffrey Leech United Kingdom · #1,726 worldwide 1.8k citations · 80 works
  8. 8 Martín Haspelmath Germany · #2,398 worldwide 900 citations · 88 works
  9. 9 Brian Street United Kingdom · #2,417 worldwide 1.9k citations · 74 works
  10. 10 Barry R. Chiswick United States · #2,719 worldwide 1.1k citations · 114 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 3,406 highest-output authors in Linguistics and Language. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Linguistics and Language researchers

Where is Linguistics and Language research done?

The largest centres of Linguistics and Language research in 2022–2025 are Warsaw (Poland), Paris (France), Krakow (Poland) and Poznań (Poland). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Saint-Denis and Noumea.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Warsaw Poland 813 works
  2. 2 Paris France 751 works
  3. 3 Krakow Poland 667 works
  4. 4 Poznań Poland 370 works
  5. 5 Lublin Poland 297 works
  6. 6 Łódź Poland 233 works
  7. 7 Katowice Poland 228 works
  8. 8 Madrid Spain 195 works
  9. 9 London United Kingdom 177 works
  10. 10 Montpellier France 172 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Gorzów WielkopolskiPL · 25.7 works47×
  2. Saint-DenisFR · 50.3 works39×
  3. NoumeaNC · 20.7 works36×
  4. Cergy-PontoiseFR · 65.7 works27×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Linguistics and Language than the world average.

See Linguistics and Language on the map

Linguistics and Language research by country

The best places for Linguistics and Language research inside each country, with that country's researchers and world standing.

Where is the best place to study Linguistics and Language?

Among universities, judged by research, Education University of Hong Kong, University of Inland Norway and University of Warsaw score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%25%50%mean 28.09%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Education University of Hong Kong: 42, 59.0%University of Inland Norway: 18, 53.0%University of Warsaw: 354, 4.8%Maria Curie-Skłodowska University: 149, 3.9%John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin: 128, 6.4%Jagiellonian University: 362, 5.0%Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań: 345, 5.6%University of Jyväskylä: 26, 55.9%Shanghai International Studies University: 22, 38.3%Hong Kong Polytechnic University: 49, 49.0%Education University…University of Inland…University of WarsawMaria Curie-Skłodows…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Education University of Hong KongHong Kong 66.459.0%12.2×42 -24.7%
2 University of Inland NorwayNorway 62.453.0%14.0×18 —
3 University of WarsawPoland 58.34.8%29.2×354 +99.3%
4 Maria Curie-Skłodowska UniversityPoland 57.73.9%32.7×149 +237.8%
5 John Paul II Catholic University of LublinPoland 57.36.4%32.4×128 +239.8%
6 Jagiellonian UniversityPoland 56.75.0%22.9×362 +68.5%
7 Adam Mickiewicz University in PoznańPoland 56.55.6%35.9×345 +77.4%
8 University of JyväskyläFinland 56.355.9%6.1×26 +63.6%
9 Shanghai International Studies UniversityChina 55.638.3%9.9×22 +87.7%
10 Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityHong Kong 54.849.0%2.4×49 +117.7%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Linguistics and Language research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 20% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Language and Culture, Cultural and political discourse analysis and Multilingual Education and Policy.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

  1. Language and Culture+434%
  2. Cultural and political discourse analysis+147%
  3. Multilingual Education and Policy+112%
  4. Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies+107%
  5. French Language Learning Methods+87%
  6. Linguistic Variation and Morphology+55%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

Growth in output from 2005–09 to 2015–19. Every topic is a page of its own.

What does Linguistics and Language include?

Multilingual Education a…40kMultilingual Education and Policy: 40k fractional worksLinguistic Variation and…30kLinguistic Variation and Morphology: 30k fractional worksLanguage and Culture: 20k fractional worksFrench Language Learning Methods: 17k fractional worksCultural and political discourse analysis: 9,735 fractional worksLinguistic and Sociocultural Studies: 9,369 fractional works

Area is fractional works in that topic. Every name below is a page of its own.