Everyone knows that a dictionary is where someone can find out what words mean.

But how did those definitions come about?  Who decides what a word means, and how do they reach that decision?  How do words come to acquire multiple meanings?  How did languages as we know them today evolve?  Do all of these other questions fall under different elements of linguistics?

These are things that I’d love to learn.  It’s something I’ve always been fascinated by.  It’s something I’ll definitely consider when I start thinking about graduate school.  However, linguistics can be quite complicated.  I’m not sure I can wrap my head around all of it.  But that doesn’t mean I won’t try.

Dictionary, Shmictionary