Linguistics is: a. the study of how to speak now-extinct languages b. the study of how languages originated, spread, and changed c. the study of the process of learning a new language d. the study of written languages e. the study of non-written languages

b. The study of how languages originated, spread, and changed

Explanation:

The scientific study or the schematic study of different languages around the world. The art of studying and analyzing the origin, form, structure, the phonetics of different languages in the world is called Linguistics. Researchers studies who people of early ages try to communicate with each other in different parts of the world which lead to the origin of different languages. People speak different languages at different places of the planet. They communicate and express themselves in the the form of languages. Thus linguistics is the study of different languages and its origin and how they have spread across the globe and change in the course of time.

Thus the answer is  b. The study of how languages originated, spread, and changed

no questions on whether they are allowed that right