Linguistics is concerned with discovering the principles in terms of which natural languages are organized and applying these principles to the description of individual languages. Using systematic descriptions of language and language usage, linguists also investigate how language interacts with our intellectual life.
Because language mediates virtually all forms of human endeavour, the study of linguistics can provide new perspectives on almost every aspect of the humanities and social sciences. In addition, it has applications to primary and secondary education, speech-language pathology and the applied sciences of communication engineering and computer science.