A linguist is a scientist or researcher who studies the structure, history, and cognitive basis of human language, rather than simply someone who speaks many languages. [1, 2]

What Linguists Do

• Study core systems: Examine sounds (phonetics/phonology), word formation (morphology), sentence structure (syntax), meaning (semantics), and context (pragmatics). [1]
• Research specializations:
• Psycholinguistics: How the brain processes speech.
• Sociolinguistics: How society and culture shape language.