An introduction to the science of the study of language, known as Linguistics, with reasons for everyone to enjoy it.
Linguistics is the science of language, requiring and precipitating the study of human and animal languages and speech with their origins. As the purpose of language is to communicate, any study of communication is a study in linguistics by nature whether so asserted or not. Verbal as well as non-verbal communication are parts of linguistics. The written word, speech, Braille, sign language or the barks of a dog are all parts of the infinite study of Linguistics. A facial tick is not linguistics but a purposed wink or a smile from one to another is linguistics. Because it is intended to communicate something, whether or not it is as accurately or definitely communicated as a language of words is, it is linguistics. Linguistics as a science has two primary branches. In simple terms one branch covers the study of languages themselves while the other covers the effects of language on the world around us.
Linguistics is also the college major that many ascribe to before going on to careers in media, law, travel, telecommunications, journalism, international business, government, computer programming, advertising and a host of other really cool, seldom heard of or hard to get jobs. While we're on the subject, as an academic offering Linguistics is a close cousin to Sociology and to Psychology (my own personal major when I went to school; I received the BA, thank you). Whether you plan a casual or academic study in Linguistics, its rewards are many and immense. Only a handful of those rewards are covered here as we discuss why its study would be attractive to you.
Why is the study of linguistics on some level beneficial to everyone?
The study of Linguistics can help you reason out how and why children, nations and peoples adopt certain languages and what can happen in their development. This can help you to understand and appreciate your own language to gain confidence and personal strength in clarification. It can help you to better understand other peoples and how you are and are not alike. It can help you to help your children get it when it comes to your own language and to understand other kids with other unique languages.
A casual study of Linguistic science will open your eyes to the constant discussions in all the media about language preferences, uses, types and strengths and weaknesses. It will also help you understand and gain from the discussions. It may also help you if you plan to learn or learn about a foreign language someday. Should you want to do any study in early or foreign history, the languages of the times and peoples will be intertwined with it and Linguistics would give you a whole new angle on the period of interest. Linguistics can help you make and keep peace between you and many other peoples by showing how a word in your language means something else altogether in theirs. It could even help you understand other cultures well enough to avoid social blunders which could have horrific consequences. It can help you to realize that someone who seems to talk funny actually speaks quite intelligently, in their own tongue, and not funny at all.
Linguistics can help you to answer an infinite number of questions about the world you live in. Why, you may ask? Because Linguistics is a science that is tied in so many ways to so many other areas of study. Languages speak of the culture of the people and are the means of communication of most every science within that culture as well. Here are some examples of the types of questions the study of Linguistics can give you the joy of answering. Questions like why computers can't use a language other than math and whether in fact math is a language? Aren't computer languages accepted as fulfilling college language requirements now? If computers can only use languages that are based on math, doesn't that make math a language as well as an independent science? Could we process useful thought without language? Are pictures a form of language? Some of the questions more closely related to Linguistics are questions like how do we understand one another? How do we learn our native tongues without a teacher? What causes languages to evolve?
The study of Linguistics is inherently also a developer of several talents. These talents include the use and discipline of personal logic, analytical and critical thought as well as skills of organized debate. Linguistics also enhances one's traits of objectivity and creative insightfulness.
Linguistics will encompass the study of politics and geography. It provides tools for examining almost every other subject. It is a fascinating science in itself and yet one that anyone can study beneficially on some level. If you want the quickest trip from average to interesting in conversation, study Linguistics. If you want to seem more and more brilliant to your peers, study Linguistics. If you want a hobby no one else you know has but that everyone wants to hear about, study Linguistics.
