Specifically, they may focus on:
* Historical linguistics: Studying the history and evolution of languages, tracing their origins and relationships.
* Comparative linguistics: Comparing different languages to understand their similarities and differences, and reconstruct their common ancestors.
* Phonology: The study of the sound systems of languages.
* Morphology: The study of how words are formed and structured.
* Syntax: The study of how words are combined to form sentences.
* Semantics: The study of meaning in language.
* Pragmatics: The study of how language is used in context.
While linguists may not always focus on "records" in the traditional sense, they do heavily rely on textual and linguistic data to conduct their research. This data can come from:
* Written texts: Ancient inscriptions, manuscripts, and modern texts.
* Oral recordings: Interviews, conversations, and performances.
* Digital corpora: Large collections of text and speech data.
So, while the term "record" might not be the most precise, a linguist is indeed the specialist who studies the origins, development, structure, and meaning of languages through various kinds of data.