In examining these and related topics, our undergraduate modules offer a variety of perspectives on language as a universal phenomenon, with particular focus on the multilingual nature of present-day South Africa. The use of language is an integral part of human life, and is of interest to academics from all the human and social sciences. Linguistics therefore combines naturally with subjects such as psychology, sociology, communication sciences, education and literature studies.
Various professions employ linguistic principles and insights.
This field of study is therefore recommended for psychologists, sociologists, first and second language teachers, speech therapists, computer scientists, terminographers, translators, librarians, lexicographers, journalists, editors, copywriters, anthropologists and philosophers. In a multilingual country like South Africa it also makes sense to look at how language works, how languages differ from one another, how children acquire language, why languages change, how language and society are connected, language in multilingual classrooms, literacy, methods of language teaching, language planning and translation. All these fields are covered by the Department of Linguistics, which has a General Linguistics section, an Applied Linguistics section and a Translation Studies section. Copyright 1996 University of South Africa. All rights reserved.