Linguistics is the scientific study of the nature and development of language and how it is acquired and used.
Linguists study both the universal properties and the particular structures of language.
Some study the way in which children and non-native speakers acquire language. Linguists also study the geographical and social dialect variations of language. Bilingual and bicultural communication is of vital interest to those who specialize in teaching English to speakers of other languages, as well as to teachers of other languages. Some linguists explore the function of the brain and other biological mechanisms in linguistic communication, and some use computers to analyze languages and to model the way language users understand and produce linguistic communication. Linguistics has important applications to other professional fields.