The study of language from a scholarly perspective is known as linguistics. It involves thoroughly examining the nature and structure of language from every angle in a systematic, objective, and precise manner. The study of language and communication is known as linguistics. There is an emphasis on both the specific study of individual languages and the broader quest to identify universal characteristics shared by large families of languages. There are several subfields within it.

• phonetics
• phonology
• morphology
• syntax
• semantics
• pragmatics

Studies in this area also explore the origins of linguistic diversity (e.g., dialects), the evolution of language, the brain's processing and storage of language, and the process by which young children learn to speak. The University of Arizona's Department of Linguistics courses covers these areas and more. Although most educated people still don't know much about linguistics, it's a rapidly developing and fascinating field that's having an ever-increasing impact on everything from psychology and philosophy to education and language teaching to sociology and anthropology to computer science and artificial intelligence.

• Northwestern University
• Dartmouth College
• Yale University
• Brown University
• Princeton University
• University of Chicago
• Duke University
• California Institute of Technology
• University of Pennsylvania
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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