-----Linguistics is an essential component of Anthropology. Linguists,
including the most famous American linguist, Noam Chomsky, have made
significant contributions to Computer Science and Mathematics.
-----Because language is a human activity that is acquired in ways that
are poorly understood, linguists and psychologists have worked together
for many years to study how children are able to master its complexity
without overt teaching before they reach the age of three or four.
-----Linguistics also deals with meaning, concepts and the relationship
between words and reality. As such, philosophers and linguists have collaborated
and argued over many of these issues.
-----Linguists have also collaborated with those who study speech disorders
such as aphasia, stuttering and delayed language development.
-----Linguists have been primarily responsible for recording and describing
the languages of the world. Recently people have become more aware that
languages are disappearing as the peoples who speak them join "world cultures."
Linguists believe it is as important to record and learn about disappearing
languages as it is to save endangered species. Linguists have been going
into the field to study previously unwritten languages, and in many cases
to help the native speakers develop writing systems, literacy campaigns
and schools in which to preserve and rejuvenate their languages. At SIUC
you can learn about all of these things while getting a BA with a major
in Linguistics, or you can minor in Linguistics, and combine it with a
major in one of the Foreign Languages we teach at SIUC, or with majors
in Sociology, Psychology, Communications Disorders, Education or other
related fields.
