If you are just starting your studies in linguistics, the first piece of advice I have seem rather odd. It is this: beware of all books on linguistics. And that includes the one you are now reading. A healthy scepticism is not a bed thing. Most books on linguistics raise expectation of understanding which they cannot fulfil. This is not entirely their fault, of course. There is an undeniable technical and theoretical base to the subject, and negotiating through this whilst still remaining reasonably coherent is not easy. But in spite of all the technical terminology, linguistics is not a science. It is a pity that the subject doesn’t have a different name. We tend to think of disciplines ending in ‘ics’, statistics, mathematics, physics, as having a precise scientific core consisting of unchallengeable facts. Linguistics is not like that. Neither, of course, strictly speaking, are mathematics, statistics or physics. Indeed, many scientists, nowadays, would question this view of science. Nevertheless, it’s important to bear in mind that the subject matter of linguistics, language, is made up. Words do not grow out of the ground they have-not evolved like matter from the interaction of natural elements. And whilst there is much to suggest that the structures and processes which enable language to develop are inborn, there is still a very important sense in which language is human-made. It is our possession in a way that nothing else is, and the process of making up, or inventing, never stops.
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