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Min-Joo
Kim
Assistant
Professor of Linguistics
Department
of English
Texas Tech University
Lubbock,
TX 79409-3091
E-mail:
min-joo.kim(at)ttu(dot)edu
Phone:
806-742-2500, ext 262
Fax:
806-742-0989
PhD.
2004, UMass-Amherst
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I am a linguist. What is a linguist? A linguist is not someone
who speaks many languages (although it is certainly true of
many linguists). Rather, he or she is someone who does linguistics.
What is linguistics then? Linguistics is a scientific study
of human language: it examines language using scientific methods.
Why study human language? It is because language is a human-specific
phenomenon. No other species have language and, even though
they may also have relatively intricate and highly developed
communication systems of their own, they do not parallel human
language in their complexity and scope. Besides, every normally-developing
child can acquire the language(s) he or she has been exposed
to in less than five years, when no other animals can, regardless
of their intelligence.
Given the complexity of human language and the effortlessness
with which children acquire languages, linguists believe that
an in-depth study of human language will provide a tap into
the human mind, eventually helping us to better understand what
differentiates humans from other species.
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