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In this chapter, we begin to explore what language is, and how language scientists (also known as linguists) think about it and observe it. It might well be that most of your experience learning about language has had to do with rules that you could get right or wrong. That\u2019s not the approach we\u2019re taking in this book. Instead, we\u2019re going to look at how to use the tools and techniques of linguistics to observe the patterns of human languages. From these observations, we\u2019ll try to draw some conclusions about the abstract principles and organization of human language in people\u2019s minds and in language communities. Along the way, we\u2019ll also consider the ways that language science and people\u2019s attitudes about language have bolstered colonial structures of power and privilege and have been used to do harm.<\/p>\n
1.1 What even is language?<\/a><\/p>\n 1.2 Studying language scientifically<\/a><\/p>\n 1.3 Thinking about standards and \u201cproper\u201d grammar<\/a><\/p>\n