Area I: History and functioning of natural languages
It is defined as a broad area of study of the architecture, historical constitution and change of the natural languages. This area is based on the ability of selection and recombination of thought in its application to the language organization, characterized in non-homogeneous axes: its formal structure, its symbolic function, its inherited character, and its differential constitution. The theoretical and methodological apparatus considers the grammar theory, the theory of variation and change, philological studies, textual criticism, and theories about the spatial distribution of language, linguistic-cultural contact and the relationships between language, cognition and society, as well as the techniques of text editing, linguistic cartography, constitution of linguistic samples and quali-quantitative data analysis.
Area II: Language and Interaction
It includes distinct perspectives of language investigation and analysis, considering the social environment in which language practices and phenomena are developed in a privileged space. It can be investigated from the perspective of the relationship between language and culture, language and politics, language and cognition, language and speech, language and translation, and language and accessibility. In all those perspectives of knowledge production, the central concern is the social and critical dimension of language, which reinforces the responsibility of the area as a space of knowledge production for the promotion of social inclusion, critical thinking and citizenship.