Synchronic vs Diachronic: Synchronic (descriptive) linguistics is concerned with the form of a language at a given moment; diachronic (historical) linguistics studies the changes that occurred in a language or family of languages over time.

Theoretical vs Applied: Theoretical (or general) linguistics is concerned with frameworks for describing individual languages and theories about universal aspects of language; applied linguistics applies these theories to other fields.

Contextual vs Autonomous: Contextual linguistics is concerned with how language fits into the world: its social function, how it is acquired, how it is produced and perceived. Autonomous or Independent linguistics considers languages for their own sake, aside from the externalities related to a language. Sometimes the terms macrolinguistics and microlinguistics are used for the corresponding terms of this dichotomy.