Linguistics in Films and Documentaries

Most people often misunderstand the concept of linguistics. They assume that linguistics solely involves learning languages, and that a linguist is an expert in any language. However, despite the prevalent lack of understanding, linguistic themes frequently appear in numerous movies.
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Misconceptions

People generally understand that a linguist is someone who excels at languages. They can speak any language. In the movie ‘Stargate’, when first encountering villagers in an alien planet, the linguist is expected by his team to be the one talking to those villagers. In ‘Arrival’, the linguistics professor is expected to translate an unknown alien language.

Some movies, like ‘My Fair Lady’, show an extraordinary ability of a linguist who can tell where a person lives based on a slight accent heard.

What can linguists do?

Linguists are genuinely interested in studying and explaining language data they encounter. In the movie “The Professor and the Madman,” the story revolves around the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. Linguists are concerned with gathering information on word…