Answer:
Linguistics is the scientific and systematic study of human language that focuses on the function and structure of language. It explores and analyzes various components and facets of language such as phones, phonemes, morphemes, words, phrases, clauses, sentences, discourse, and texts. The field of linguistics is extensive and widespread. Because of that, the branches are also huge.

Branches of Linguistics:

The fundamental concepts of the main branches of linguistics are described below —

1. Microlinguistics or Theoretical linguistics:

Mircolinguistics deals with the fundamental concepts or constituents of a language. It is also known as theoretical linguistics. Microlinguistics includes phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, graphology, and lexicology. Those are described below—

• Phonetics:
  Phonetics is the study of the sounds in language, such as /p/, /b/, /m/, and it explores the production, transmission, and perception of these sounds. It looks at how we make these sounds using our vocal organs like our lungs, vocal cords, and tongue. Phonetics experts describe speech sounds by talking about where we make them in our mouth, like with our tongue or palate. They also study the musical and rhythm parts of speech, like how long sounds last, how high or low they are, and how strong they sound.

• Phonology:
  Phonology is the branch of linguistics that focuses on the study of sound systems in languages. Phonologists analyze the phenomenon of sound substitutions, where one speech sound is swapped with another, and how these substitutions can impact the meaning of words. Such sound replacements can alter the meaning of a word, as seen in examples like “brick” and “trick”. 

• Morphology:
  Morphology is the study of the structure of words. It focuses on detecting morphemes, which are the tiniest meaningful and unbreakable grammatical units of a language. For example – the word im-perfect-ion-s is segmented into Im, perfect, ion, and s.

• Syntax:
  Syntax refers to how words are put together to create phrases and sentences. For example,
  
  Car → Word, 
  A black car → Phrase, 
  A black car with a powerful engine on the road → Sentence.
  
  It deals with arranging words in sentences and determining how they fit and work together. Syntax also distinguishes between how we write and how we speak. Essentially syntax analyzes how sentences are built and offers rules to help form accurate sentences in a specific language.

• Semantics:
  Semantics is all about understanding the meaning in language. It has different parts like word meaning, grammar meaning, sentence meaning, and the meaning of spoken words. It looks at meaning on its own, without thinking about the situation or context. The goal of semantics is to uncover why meaning is tricker than it appears in straightforward sentences. It explores the meaning aspect of language.

• Pragmatics:
  Pragmatics studies how language is used for communication. It’s concerned with understanding the intended meaning of speech beyond just the literal interpretation. Context matters, shaping the meaning of speech. Pragmatics explores meaning within context, including implied meanings and sentence structure, focusing on the communicative aspect of language rather than its structure.

• Graphology:
  Graphology, within the field of linguistic study, explores a language’s writing system and established orthographic conventions that transform spoken language into written form.

• Lexicology:
  Lexicology deals with writing the dictionary scientifically. Lexicographers are heavily dependent on this branch.

2. Macrolinguistics:

It covers the areas of linguistic study where the discoveries of theoretical linguistics are put to use in examining real world language application. This falls under applied linguistics and includes fields like sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, historical linguistics, mathematical linguistics, ethnolinguistics, computational linguistics, and clinical linguistics etc. Those are described below —

• Sociolinguistics:
  Sociolinguistics is the study of the relation of language to society. Its main aim is to investigate language in its social and cultural context.

• Psycholinguistics:
  It explores how language and the mind are connected when learning a language. For example: It looks at how we learn our first language as children and how we learn additional languages later on.

• Historical or diachronic linguistics:
  Historical linguistics was developed in the nineteenth century. It is concerned with the historical development of languages.

• Structural or Synchronic Linguistics:
  Structural or synchronic linguistics covers the study of languages existing at a given point in time. A synchronic study of language is a comparison of languages or dialects.

• Mathematical linguistics:
  Mathematics is the science of patterns. Mathematical linguistics is the study of linguistics using mathematical methods of analysis. 

• Ethnolinguistics: 
  Ethnolinguistics is a field of linguistics anthropology which studies the language of a particular ethnic group.

• Computational linguistics:
  Computational linguistics studies language with the help of statistics and computer science.

• Clinical linguistics:
  It is a branch of linguistics, and involves the application of linguistic theory to the field of Speech-language pathology.

So, these are the scopes, areas, and branches of linguistics.