What is the study of Linguistics?
Linguistics is the scientific study of language.
The study of linguistic diversity involves comparing, contrasting, and classifying hundreds of individual languages to discover patterns of similarity and difference in their grammars, vocabularies, writing systems, and patterns of speech.
It encompasses a range of theoretical positions and research methods including ethnography, comparative linguistics, history, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and syntax. Linguists are interested in pursuing knowledge about how language works as well as practical applications such as document translation and speech recognition.
Students of linguistics study language in two basic ways; by learning the grammar of one or more languages, and by considering how properties of the human language faculty are reflected in language use.
Language is an important part of everyone's experience, whether they are 5 or 105. Specialists in the field of linguistics work to help others use language more effectively.
For a full list of places to study linguistics, head to our Where To Study section.
