Languages
In Malaysia, the study of languages, linguistics and literature is not seen as commercially useful, and hence is not as popular as other, more ‘marketable’ subjects. The common perception is that the only career path open to graduates of these subjects is academia. That is a pity, because the study of languages and other related disciplines can be applied to many other professions; language graduates are not doomed by default to a life of dusty, mould-ridden books and brown patched tweed.
The student of language is at heart concerned with the how, why, when, where and who of the art and science of communication. The formal scientific study of a language is known as linguistics.
Linguistics is the systematic study of the structure of human languages. A linguist is not a person who can speak or understand many languages with a high degree of fluency (such a person is a polyglot). The linguist’s primary interest is to understand how the human brain acquires and processes language. Linguists may not even have to know a particular language to be able to analyse its patterns and application.
Sub-sections of linguistics might include:
- Morphology – the study of the formation of words
- Etymology – the study of the origin of words
- Syntax – the study of the composition of phrases from these words
- Phonology – the study of the sound systems of words and how we understand them
- Phonetics – the study of the physical reproduction, transmission and perception of these words
- Semantics – the study of meaning
- Pragmatics – the study of how context contributes to meaning
- Evolutionary and historical linguistics – the study of the origins and development of language
- Sociolinguistics – the study of the relationship between language and social structures
- Research Methodology
- Grammar
