Someone with a strong educational background in linguistics or language may consider a variety of different linguistics careers. A linguistics degree can lead to a variety of educational opportunities, ranging from teaching secondary languages to college professorships teaching linguistics and conducting research. Performing etymological research or preserving dying languages are two examples of scholarly work in linguistics. There are also more unusual linguistics careers, such as speech analysis for law enforcement or assisting in the development of computer systems that analyze or create speech, that can be pursued, usually in an advisory capacity.
Linguistics careers cover a wide range of occupations in which people study or practice various aspects of language and linguistics. The term “linguistics” is most commonly used to refer to the study of how people construct and use language. Many linguistics jobs can be found in a variety of educational settings. Teachers who specialize in teaching foreign languages or who teach the primary language of a region as a secondary language to students from other countries frequently have a linguistics or language background.
Those interested in linguistics careers can also find other scholarly work, such as work at colleges and universities. Those who study and research linguistics to develop new ideas and understanding of various linguistic concepts, as well as those who teach linguistics at universities, typically have a background in language and a degree in linguistics. Other scholarly linguistic careers include language research, such as work to document rare or endangered languages. Etymological research can be conducted on a variety of languages to determine word origins and the history of languages and word usages.
There are also careers in applied linguistics, which allow those with a linguistics background to apply their knowledge in ways other than research and teaching. Speech therapists, for example, frequently have a background in language or linguistics and help people overcome speech and communication disorders. Language and dialogue coaches work with actors to help them overcome or mimic accents or speak lines of dialogue in a foreign language more naturally.
Some linguistics careers can be found in unexpected places. A linguist might work with a law enforcement agency to track down suspects analyzing speech samples for accents that indicate certain nationalities, or looking for “markers” in word usage that could indicate potential security threats. Linguistics research is also used to create new computer systems that use artificial intelligence (AI) to recognize and replicate spoken language. To better emulate such processes in an AI program, computer programmers might collaborate with linguists to learn how humans perceive and create language.