Hey guys and gals!,
I am Diego, a new member of this site. I am new to this site, and saw this as a link for new members to post in.
I am currently a student (senior, yay!) at the University of Delaware majoring in Linguistics. I came to this site hoping that there were some neat conversations I can get myself into and start up relating to Linguistics.
I noticed there was a debate about whether or not Linguistics should be a sub-board in regards to its relationship as a science and importance. As almost graduating with this degree, and on my way to a PhD (got invited to go to University of Florida yay!) in it, I thought it wouldn't hurt to bring this subject up.
This is not meant to be forward or bold in any such sense, but rather informative.
Here are some misconceptions that I think are appropriate to bring up. If people want a further elaboration of this, I will be more than happy to discuss this with you![]()
- First, Linguistics IS a science . It uses scientific method and analytical procedures to explain how the world works. Although it used to be classified under the arts, recent studies and approaches with linguistics has transformed the subject to an analytical science as much as it is a social science.
- Linguistics IS a popular study, and is studied all around the world.
- Linguistics and English are different subjects with different approaches of study. When people put the two together, it makes us linguist-lovers very frustrated and angry
- English's and Linguistics' (pleeease mind my apostrophe mistake, if there is one
) definition of grammar is very different. Where English fans say that there is a right and wrong way to spek and write, we linguist do not use those terms and instead, focus on observing the rights and wrongs of speech and investigate why a person or a group of people talk that way.
- Linguistics and Foreign Languages are also different when dealing with their philosophical studies. Foreign Language study developing how to learn another language while Linguistics focuses on the science behind different languages.
- Linguistics is important to many different fields like biology, anthology, cognitive science, history, sociology, English, philosophy and even chemistry, physics, and neuroscience! (There are even more fields that linguistics works with too, but saying them all would be very repetitive in regards to my point.) Be that as it may, Linguistics is not any of those fields, but rather a subject of its own.
I really hope there is a board, or at least (that is, desperately speaking), a sub board. If there is a vote as for who should moderate this board, or if there is no one to moderate it, I would love to help out. I have experience in working with forums for over 10 years. If necessary, I can put up my resume for those who are interested in learning more about me.
That' it folks, and rake care!
Diego
--
"the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best."