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Dear Yoád, If you mean that linguistics as we understand the science of linguistics today is the “oldest science in the world,” this is not correct. It is true that the study of language and the way that languages work date back to ancient times. Nevertheless, the organised study of mathematics and geometry dates back further. The first known mathematical treatise dates to around 2,000 BCE. Astronomy may be far older, though we know this by inference from archeological calendars rather than written books. The oldest known such calendar dates to nearly 10,000 years ago. While there may have been some organised study of language for translation, the earliest organised science of language is probably that of classical Athens with Aristotle. The Organon, especially Peri Hermeneias (De Interpretatione) would likely be the first books on language as an organised field of inquiry, but even these are closer to philology and philosophy than to modern linguistics. It was a linguist who became one of the great early contributors to semiotics — Ferdinand De Saussure, as Jeffrey Bardzell notes. But linguistics is far from the oldest organised science. Yours, Ken Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Tongji University in Cooperation with Elsevier | URL: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/ Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| University Distinguished Professor | Centre for Design Innovation | Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne, Australia -- Yoád David Luxembourg wrote: —snip— Linguistics, by the way, is the oldest science in the the existence of mankind. The first books on human language date back hundreds if not thousands of years and long before we had cognitive science (and FMRI technology) people investigated aphasia and other language disorders. Compared to linguistics design and semiotics are like spring chickens :) —snip— ----------------------------------------------------------------- PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design -----------------------------------------------------------------