Linguistic

There are some difficulties with understanding the various words in the group linked with linguistic.

First, its use in general English in academic circles is as an adjective, with the related adverb linguistically. Here, it means 'to do with language and how we talk about it.' A lecturer may say to a student "Your essay was excellent in its content and argument, but linguistically it was very poor." This means that it was a good essay, apart from the expression of the ideas in language.

This broad meaning has been refined. The most widely used meaning of 'a linguist' is 'a person who speaks a second or other language', with the implied addition 'well'. Linguist, however, has another meaning: 'a student [or teacher, or academic generally] of linguistics. Linguistics is the study of language in a broader sense'. A linguist of this sort understands grammar, etymology and other theoretical aspects of linguistics. (It may be more advisable to call such people linguisticians, to avoid ambiguity - although it has been said that the word "implies pretentiousness rather than precision": cited in OED, s.v. linguistician, quotation 1950.) Like Mathematicsand Economics, linguisticsis the name of a subject which looks like a plural, although it is not always treated as one in grammar.