语言学家是研究语言的科学家。语言是人类从事的最复杂的认知任务之一，但它不费吹灰之力地潜意识地被使用，并且是在没有正式指导的情况下被婴儿获得的。作为语言学的学生，您将学习语言的形式特性：声音系统，如何将单词和句子放在一起，并从各个部分计算含义。您将探索全球各种语言，并了解它们的历史发展。您还将探索婴儿如何获取语言，大脑中如何表示语言以及如何实时使用语言以及在社交环境中如何使用语言。
Think linguists just speak lots of languages Think again. Linguists are scientists who study language. Language is one of the most complex cognitive tasks that humans engage in, yet it is used effortlessly and subconsciously and is acquired by infants with no formal instruction. How can you effortlessly speak and understand without even being aware of what you are doing As a student of linguistics, you will explore the answers to this question and many others. As a student of linguistics, you will learn the formal properties of language: sound systems, how words and sentences are put together and how meaning is computed from the parts. You will explore the diversity of languages across the globe and learn about their historical development (for example, did you know that English and Sanskrit are descended from a single language spoken 6,000 years ago in Asia). You will also explore how infants acquire language, how language is represented in the brain and used in real time and how language is used in social contexts.