One question linguists often receive is "What is linguistics, and why is it important?" Simply put, linguistics is the study of language. This includes how language is acquired, how it is used within society, and how it changes over time. Linguists also use science and math to formally study speech sounds, grammatical structures, and the meanings of words. Therefore, linguistics is closely related to history, english, anthropology, biology, and psychology. We use linguistics any time we write a paper, tell a story, give a speech, and hold a conversation. We make choices about the words, sentence structure, and tone and type of speech we use without even realizing it, and linguistics helps us understand what those choices are and why we pick the options that we do. Linguists use their knowledge in a wide range of professional careers, such as artificial intelligence programmers, language instructors, translators, lawyers, speech therapists, and policymakers. Language skills are also necessary in fields such as international affairs and linguistics. You can find out more about UGA's Linguistics program here, and the Linguistic Society of America also includes additional information on how linguistics contributes to an increasingly interconnected society.
