Linguistics is the scientific study of language, and it involves the systematic investigation of the properties of particular languages as well as the characteristics of language in general. It encompasses the study of sound, grammar, and meaning, as well as the history of language families, how languages are acquired by children and adults, and how language use is processed in the mind and how it is connected to race and gender. Linguistics is a multi-disciplinary field of research that combines tools from natural sciences, social sciences, formal sciences, and the humanities. It complements a diverse range of other disciplines such as anthropology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, biology, computer science, health sciences, education, and literature.

Linguistics has several subfields, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and computational linguistics. Most professional linguists become specialists in one or more of these subfields. The study of linguistics enables one to understand how language works, how it is used, developed, and preserved over time.

Linguistics is a human science and may be compared with programs such as sociology, psychology, or anthropology. It is essentially seen as relating to social and cultural studies because different languages are shaped in social interaction by the speech community. Linguistics is based on theoretical as well as descriptive study of language, and is also interlinked with the applied fields of language studies and language learning, which entails the study of specific languages.

In summary, linguistics is the scientific study of language, and it encompasses the study of sound, grammar, and meaning, as well as the history of language families, how languages are acquired by children and adults, and how language use is processed in the mind and how it is connected to race and gender. It is a multi-disciplinary field of research that combines tools from natural sciences, social sciences, formal sciences, and the humanities. Linguistics has several subfields, and it enables one to understand how language works, how it is used, developed, and preserved over time.