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?
As a computer scientist, unsurprisingly the most interesting application to me is how it ties into programming language design. I think it’s a neat example of disciplinary cross-over that one of the elementary concepts used by compilers (and many other kinds of parsers) is named after Noam Chomsky, whose work hasn’t directly had anything to do with computer science.
Computational and mathematical linguistics are out of my wheelhouse, but they’re also fascinating because they show that language can be thought of as a universal abstract concept, much like mathematics (in a way it is math, and math is language), rather than just something humans use to communicate.