linguist

noun

1. One who studies linguistics.
2. (usually)One who studies linguistics.

   “President Donald Trump has "turned words into weapons" -- and journalists are providing additional ammunition. That's according to Trump critic George Lakoff, a renowned linguist and professor emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley.”

   “The internet serves as an accelerant to fanilects. Because song lyrics are readily available online, they have a characteristic linguists call "persistence," meaning anyone can refer to them and reuse them.”

3. A person skilled in languages.

   “I found that he could write and read English, but could not speak it, being like myself a bad linguist; so we had to use French as a medium of communication.”

   “The words of these songs were either without meaning, or derived from an idiom with which Watt, a very fair linguist, had no acquaintance.”

4. A human translator; an interpreter, especially in the armed forces.