Don’t get me wrong, i think linguistics is a lot of fun and i get that it’s an interesting field. I just don’t understand what practical applications it has beyond understanding languages better. What do we do with that understanding of languages? Is it purely about seeking knowledge?
I think you and @rigatti@lemmy.world got caught in the words.
“History” can refer to the past events or their study. “Economy”, to the system of production and consumption or its study. “Chemistry”, to a set of properties of the matter or their study. And so goes on.
The same does not apply to “language”. The word refers to a bunch* of phenomena, but not their study. Their study gets a different name, Linguistics. So when OP is asking “what is linguistics for”, they’re clearly referring to the study; they are not asking “what are the phenomena called «language» good for?”
*at least three: a human faculty, a communication system relying on that faculty, and concrete instances of the usage of that system.
Side note, Linguistics is great to catch this sort of hidden polysemy.
Yes, this exactly. And thank you for being polite about it.