Linguistics is the science of language, and linguists are scientists

who apply the scientific method for questions about the nature and 【M1】__________

function of language.

Linguists conduct formal studies of speech sounds, grammatical

structures, and meaning across all the world’s over 6,000 languages.

They also investigate the history of and changes within language families

and how language is inquired when we are infants. Linguists examine the 【M2】__________

relationship among written language and spoken language as well as the 【M3】__________

underlying neural structures that enable us to use language.

Clearly, many of the questions linguists pose overlapped with fields 【M4】__________

in the life sciences, social sciences, and humanities, thus make 【M5】__________

linguistics a multidisciplinary field. As a multidisciplinary field,

linguistics attempt to understand how language is stored in the human 【M6】__________

mind/brain and how it is part of everyday human behavior through its

sister fields of neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, anthropology,

sociology, and computer science.

This is important to note that the term “linguist” may cause some 【M7】__________

confusion because it is known to be used differently in non-academic

domains. Sometimes language experts are referred as linguists, but those 【M8】__________

individuals do not necessarily conduct the same kind of scientific

research on language carried out by those with advanced degrees in 【M9】__________

linguistics. “Polyglot” is the term used for a person who has knowledge

of multiple languages. And as it is possible for a person to be both a 【M10】_________

linguist and a polyglot, it is just as possible that a linguist speaks only one

language.

【M4】