Linguistics is the systematic study of language. Its focus is on language, in general , not on any individual language. The word linguistics is derived from Latin lingua meaning tongue and istics meaning knowledge or science. It studies language as a universal and recognizable part of human behavior . It investigates how the language is constructed, how it varies through space , how it is used, and how it is related to other languages. Hence the linguist studies the origin , organization ,nature and development of language descriptively ,historically , comparatively and explicitly and formulates general rules related to language . The linguist is one who studies language objectively , observing it scientifically , recording facts about language objectively , observing it scientifically , recording facts about language and deriving general principles for them. First study the language and second it tries to describe the language apply those theory in language .

The facts about language that interest a linguist are its sounds ,forms of words and the arrangement of words to form meaningful utterances. There are various approaches to the study of linguistics : historical, descriptive and comparative.

HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS :-

It studies the facts about a language for the purpose of describing the development of the language for a period of time. It traces language change and the causes and results of such changes that occurred from time to time.

DESCRIPTIVE LINGUISTICS:-

It deals with the description and analysis of the ways in which a language operates and is used by a given set of speakers at a given time. it is based on a structural approach to language.

COMPARATIVE LINGUISTICS:-

It is concerned with comparing two or more languages .It traces the evolution of language and by comparing one with another , establishes the relationship between them .

Linguistics may be considered as science . Like any other branch of science it has a well – defined subject matter called language. It makes use of methods like observation , recording and analysis of the various phenomena related to the study of language.