Contrastive linguistics, also known as differential linguistics, is a comparative study of two or more languages or dialects with the goal of identifying their similarities and differences. Linguists use this approach to analyze the linguistic elements of different languages, such as sounds, grammar, vocabulary, and syntax, in order to understand how they contrast with each other. This analysis helps in language teaching, translation, linguistic research, and understanding language universals, fundamental properties of languages, and language-specific features.