Introduction to Linguistics
Linguistics is a scientific study of languages. Linguistics aims to discover multiple aspects that include:
- How a language originates,
- How languages evolved over a period of time, and
- How our mind perceives a language to communicate.
It further adds on the analysis of the different aspects within a language such as the meaning, form, context, and other basic elements of a language.
Linguistic can be the main interest for those who love learning new languages. It can help them to learn what a language is, and what the history of any language is. Linguistics is a wide-ranging area of study and encompasses various specializations for students around the world.
Career of a Linguist
The linguistics field emerged in recent era and spread quickly. Many students are confused that if they proceed towards a career as a linguist, how they can be a successful in their professional life.
Getting a degree in linguistics opens multiple opportunities for career of a linguist. The skills attained while pursuing a linguistics degree enable a linguist to take up jobs in a variety of sectors such as education, language services, social sector, writing, publishing etc. Some of the popular job opportunities for a linguist are described below:
A linguist as a teacher
- Teacher in the field of linguistics
- ESL teacher
- Accent coach
A linguist as a professional
- Speech pathologist
- Language translator
- Speech therapist
- Audiologist
- Language consultant
A linguist as a writer/publisher
- Lexicographer
- Interpreter
- Copy editor
- Copywriter
- Journalist
- Proofreader
A linguist as a developer
- Text-to-speech developers
- Machine translator
- Artificial intelligence developer
- Language documenter
A linguist as a social worker
- Social researcher
- Research associate
- Public librarian
- Diplomats
Famous universities that award degrees in linguistic studies:
Below is the list of top 10 favorite universities that offer a linguistic program for students worldwide.
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States)
- University of Massachusetts Amherst (United States)
- Harvard University (United States)
- University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
- Stanford University (United Kingdom)
- University of Oxford (United Kingdom)
- University of California, Berkeley (UCB) (United States)
- University of Maryland, College Park(United States)
- University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (United States)