Linguist

Children are famous for asking, “Why?” Sometimes, however, a more interesting question is, “How?”

How did zebras get their stripes, for instance? How did the sun get its light? And, in the case of linguistics, how did words get their meaning?

As a Linguist, you’re tasked with answering that question. Someone who scientifically studies language — both written and spoken — you do so by approaching words like Zoologists approach animals: You study their anatomy, behavior, and habitat in order to figure out why they do what they do.

If you’re interested in theoretical linguistics, you study grammar, which is the structure of language; syntax, which is the arrangement of language; semantics, which is the meaning of language; etymology, which is the origin of language; and phonetics, which is the sound of language. On the other hand, if you’re interested in practical linguistics, you specialize in the use and application of language by Interpreters, Translators, Speech Therapists, Foreign Language Teachers, etc.

Because you understand language, you understand communication, which means you’ve got many employment options. You might work in computers, for instance, helping companies develop speech recognition software, search engines, and artificial intelligence; business, helping companies name products; international relations, performing cross-cultural translation; education, teaching foreign languages; research, conducting language surveys and documenting the emergence of new words; government, helping military and intelligence agencies decipher communications; or even theater, training Actors in pronunciation, intonation, and dialect.

Really, the options are endless — and so are the words for describing them, all of which you know (and in every language, too)!