The author feels that it is legitimate to center a survey of the language sciences around the field of linguistics. This survey is based in part on his own view of the scientific study of language, and in part on an informal sampling of the literature available to him. He gives first a characterization of the field of linguistics, then a discussion of the various "hyphenated" fields that have sprung up around linguistics, followed by a survey of the other sciences dealing with language. Finally, he attempts an evaluation of the whole broad area of the language sciences. (Author/DO)