Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    College Advising
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
Lingua Franca-Circular Icon

Lingua Franca

Language and writing in academe.

Why Linguistics Matters

By Geoffrey K. Pullum October 24, 2018
spaghetti-allo-scoglio

It was their idea, not mine. Polity Press had the concept, and talked me into it. They told me they were starting a book series called “Why It Matters” in which academics would explain why their discipline held significance or value for the world — why it was important that there should be such a subject. Books on anthropology, classics, history, and geography, they said, were already commissioned. (Notice, not nuclear engineering or marine toxicology. Nobody doubts that they matter. It’s always the humanities and the social sciences that have to justify their existence.) Their next pick was linguistics.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

spaghetti-allo-scoglio

It was their idea, not mine. Polity Press had the concept, and talked me into it. They told me they were starting a book series called “Why It Matters” in which academics would explain why their discipline held significance or value for the world — why it was important that there should be such a subject. Books on anthropology, classics, history, and geography, they said, were already commissioned. (Notice, not nuclear engineering or marine toxicology. Nobody doubts that they matter. It’s always the humanities and the social sciences that have to justify their existence.) Their next pick was linguistics.

Soon you will be able to examine the book that resulted: Linguistics: Why It Matters will be published in the USA on November 5.

Producing this book was unlike any other writing work I have ever done. Polity set the title, the series, the timetable, the size, the style, and aspects of the content. There was to be no explaining of theoretical concepts or introducing of technical terms in boldface. I was not to provide an introduction to the subject, but rather to say why it should exist at all. Perhaps the biggest stumbling block was that the entire book had be no longer than 25,000 words. That’s really very terse.

ADVERTISEMENT

At first I couldn’t visualize what a book for lay readers on this topic would be like. I saw one major problem in the paucity of linguistic discoveries that simultaneously meet three conditions: (i) solidly confirmed by replicable research, (ii) uncontroversial across the whole spectrum of warring theoretical allegiances, and (iii) sufficiently independent of technicalities to be explained to a lay audience.

I hemmed and hawed and hesitated, but Polity pressed. Pascal Porcheron, the commissioning editor, bought me lunch in a pleasant Italian restaurant in Cambridge, and after an hour or so, pleasantly full from a seafood linguini with hot chili peppers (they know what they’re doing when they buy you food and drink, don’t they?), I agreed to accept the commission.

It was pretty much decided for me that there should be about five chapters in this little book. I decided that their main themes should be:

  1. the key role of language as a hallmark of our species;
  2. the crucial relevance of syntax — not just words, but sentences;
  3. the intimate relations between language and thought;
  4. the role that language plays in shaping our social life; and
  5. the promise of machines that can use human language, or at least simulate such use.

If linguistics matters at all, as I think it does, it is mainly for reasons bound up with those five general topics. So over a few weeks during a busy fall semester, I wrote four or five thousand words on each, and that was the draft of the book.

WhyItMatters

I stared at it for a while, and decided I didn’t like it at all. But the deadline for submission had arrived, so I turned it in as promised. (The alternative would have been to reimburse Pascal for the seafood linguini, and that would have been humiliating.) But I thought (even hoped) they would just look over what I had written, shaking their heads sadly, and decide not to publish. Instead they chose two anonymous referees who read it and reported that it was lovely and they had enjoyed it.

ADVERTISEMENT

I was aghast. Where is the penetrating eye of the harshly critical referee when you need it? I craved advice. I wanted to be told which were the boring bits I should cut out, and which were the passages where my enthusiasm had run away with me and I had rambled on entertainingly for far too long. The unwelcome prospect of two favorable referee reports left me feeling completely alone and deprived of counsel.

I sat down and rewrote it all, using the judgment of that harshest but most biased of referees, the one inside my head. I tried to spot the places where I had become dull, and sought out more interesting material to inject — always keeping an eye on the total word count, deleting as many words as I added. To achieve the deletions, I forced myself to decide which were the paragraphs that had benefited too much from being my darlings, and I murdered them. And after that they just went straight into production. Proof copies were manufactured by mid June.

So now, if someone asks what on earth is the point of linguistics given that we can all talk, there is a book to point them to. I hope it proves useful. There’s no going back now; I ate the linguini, and Pascal picked up the check.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Vector illustration of large open scissors  with several workers in seats dangling by white lines
Iced Out
Duke Administrators Accused of Bypassing Shared-Governance Process in Offering Buyouts
Illustration showing money being funnelled into the top of a microscope.
'A New Era'
Higher-Ed Associations Pitch an Alternative to Trump’s Cap on Research Funding
Illustration showing classical columns of various heights, each turning into a stack of coins
Endowment funds
The Nation’s Wealthiest Small Colleges Just Won a Big Tax Exemption
WASHINGTON, DISTICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES - 2025/04/14: A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator holding a sign with Release Mahmud Khalil written on it, stands in front of the ICE building while joining in a protest. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally in front of the ICE building, demanding freedom for Mahmoud Khalil and all those targeted for speaking out against genocide in Palestine. Protesters demand an end to U.S. complicity and solidarity with the resistance in Gaza. (Photo by Probal Rashid/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Campus Activism
An Anonymous Group’s List of Purported Critics of Israel Helped Steer a U.S. Crackdown on Student Activists

From The Review

John T. Scopes as he stood before the judges stand and was sentenced, July 2025.
The Review | Essay
100 Years Ago, the Scopes Monkey Trial Discovered Academic Freedom
By John K. Wilson
Vector illustration of a suited man with a pair of scissors for a tie and an American flag button on his lapel.
The Review | Opinion
A Damaging Endowment Tax Crosses the Finish Line
By Phillip Levine
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan keeps his emotions in check during a news conference, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 in Charlottesville. Va. Authorities say three people have been killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at the University of Virginia and a student is in custody. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Review | Opinion
Jim Ryan’s Resignation Is a Warning
By Robert Zaretsky

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin