In recent years, there has been a surge of demand from industry for competent linguists. There are also developing fields in bilingualism, literacy, linguistic problems of ethnic minorities, and other topics in applied linguistics. As a result, graduate programs are offering an increasing number of courses in computational as well as urban and applied linguistics. Several government agencies, such as the Foreign Service Institute of the Department of State, hire linguists to supervise language training programs. Others, such as the Department of the Interior, have linguists to carry out research on American Indian languages, or to work in specialized fields such as the determination of geographical names for mapping and other purposes.
Lexicographers are involved with the publishing of dictionaries.
They are concerned with such matters as pronunciation, the definition of grammatical terms, the various languages, dialectal variation, and etymology. Other areas of publishing in which linguists are involved include foreign language textbooks, editing, consulting, and elementary and secondary programs in reading, writing and spelling. The role of linguists in speech pathology and audiology is varied. Through research efforts they have improved ways of analyzing and evaluating the language disintegration associated with aphasia in adults. Research has also provided valuable information about the stages normal children go through after the first word appears, enabling the evaluation of child language disorders and the design of intervention programs based on the normal sequence of development.