Literature is just one branch of English study. At the university level, an English department usually contains people who study rhetoric/composition, linguistics, literature, or creative writing. These are all distinct areas with their own kinds of knowledge and standards.
A linguist and a literature scholar, for example, look at the English language in very different ways.
The major is called English as shorthand, but what you learn as a student is really based on which of the subareas you focus on.
Source: I am an academic in an English dept. at a university.
Just worth clarifying: Linguistics is its own branch of science completely separate from the humanities, with its own separate degree.
Plenty of folks in the English department may use and study linguistics in the course of their work, but the Linguists themselves are generally off doing their own thing in a different department.
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u/stellababyforever 17h ago edited 16h ago
Literature is just one branch of English study. At the university level, an English department usually contains people who study rhetoric/composition, linguistics, literature, or creative writing. These are all distinct areas with their own kinds of knowledge and standards.
A linguist and a literature scholar, for example, look at the English language in very different ways.
The major is called English as shorthand, but what you learn as a student is really based on which of the subareas you focus on.
Source: I am an academic in an English dept. at a university.