Many people are confused by what linguistics is and what linguists do. To put it in its simplest terms, linguistics is the scientific study of language, and linguists are the scientists who study it. We often think of linguists as gifted polyglots (speakers of multiple languages), grammar nazis, and/or pretentious copy editors. None of these characteristics is necessary for a linguist, however. Where do these misconceptions come from? For many of us, they reflect an ideology about language usage we were exposed to in school. There, we were taught that there is only one correct way to speak and write. For anyone whose mother tongue was not English, they were probably also taught that there are correct/incorrect contexts for non-English (or non-hegemonic language) use. In the most unfortunate of cases, some people were forbidden from using their mother tongues at all. These are not the consequences of linguistics per se, but language planners and policy makers often use linguistic terminology to justify their actions.
Which brings us to a fundamental dichotomy in the study of linguistics: prescriptivism vs. descriptivism. A prescriptive approach focuses on how language OUGHT to be used. A descriptive approach focuses on how language actually IS used. For that reason, many linguists have no desire whatsoever to correct your grammar–in fact, they probably encourage the variation and diversity! Descriptive linguists seek out patterns in language use that may or may not correspond with the stated “rules” of a language. I do not mean to totally vilify prescriptive linguists here. There is a time and a place for standardized, prescriptive language. I personally just don’t want that concession to be used to justify the suppression of linguistic diversity.
Stepping off my soapbox, let’s get back to what linguistics is. We can break the study of language down into approximately five sub-fields:
- phonetics/phonology: the study of the physical sounds of a language and their organization. E.g., In what contexts do speakers of English drop the /r/ from certain words?
- morphology: the study of the smallest meaning-bearing units in a language, called “morphemes,” and how these units combine to form words. E.g., In what ways can Welsh nouns be pluralized?
- syntax: the study of sentences, or how to combine words into complete phrases. E.g., How do you form a grammatically correct question in Mandarin Chinese?
- semantics/pragmatics: the study of meaning in language. E.g., How do Spanish speakers disambiguate sentences that could have more than one meaning?
- sociolinguistics: the study of how social factors affect language change/variation. E.g., What social groups are more likely to preserve rounded vowels in Louisiana French?
These are not the only sub-fields of linguistics, but they give you an example of the diversity of topics encompassed by the study of language. Other sub-fields include: historical linguistics, language acquisition, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, etc.
Tune in next time for a closer look at the phenomenon of language change and the multiple factors that influence the speed and direction of such change.
P.S. It also occurs to me that I owe you all three articles on particularities of writing three of Louisiana’s languages: Kouri-Vini, Louisiana French, and Tunica. I have not forgotten, I’ve merely been delayed. Thanks for your patience.