Linguistics (General Major)

The linguistics approach to language is based on the analysis of sound, the structure of words and sentences, and the meanings they transmit. But it also has to deal with the way sounds change, words come and go, and meanings shift. Linguistics is the humanities discipline that is closest to being a science in the generally accepted sense of the word. Partly because human language, the subject of linguistics, is almost entirely acquired subconsciously, it is a massive and intricate structure that is free to develop in accordance with natural rather than with consciously determined social laws.

Field of study: Linguistics