How to Be a Linguist

Simply put, linguistics is the study of languages. It is also referred to as philology. Linguistics can by divided into two general categories, theoretical and applied. Below is an outline of the linguistics field, so if you're considering linguistics as a field of study, read on to find out more.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Theoretical Linguistics

1. Phonetics is how sounds are produced and perceived, whereas phonology is how the patterns of those sounds are arranged in a given language.

2. Morphology deals with the structure of words, while syntax deals with the structure of sentences.

3. Semantics is the meaning behind the word or sentence.

Applied Linguistics

4. Language acquisition is the study of how children first learn to speak and how second languages are learned later in life.

5. Computational linguistics, or natural language processing, is a merger between computer science and linguistics and deals with a wide variety of fields.

6. Sociolinguistics is the study of languages within a society or culture.

7. Psycholinguistics studies the psychological and neurobiological aspects of language acquisition and use, and is closely related to neurolinguistics.

Tips & Warnings

• There are many different sub-fields within linguistics and within each of the topics outlined above. This is just an introduction to the study of languages, and you can pursue each sub-division in a lengthy course of studies.

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