The Department of Linguistics offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in Linguistics and a Linguistics Minor.

Overview of Programs

Language is both a means of social communication and a unique property of the human mind. As such, linguistics - the scientific study of language - has a broad appeal to students who are interested in the social sciences, the humanities, computer science, or the life sciences. The undergraduate program in linguistics helps students understand the diversity of human modes of communication, the social and psychological origins of language, and the processes by which languages are learned and lost. A major in linguistics thus provides students with a focused but broad-based education in the liberal arts. In addition, the way linguists think about their subject has greatly influenced the development of other disciplines such as anthropology, computer science, language teaching, philosophy, psychology, and sociology. A degree in linguistics will thus be of great value to students intending to pursue careers in those fields.

Graduates of the linguistics program who enter the work force immediately after graduating find employment in a wide variety of settings: as teachers, writers, translators, editors, civil servants, community developers, etc. Graduates who go on to advanced study find themselves well prepared for professional careers in fields such as linguistics, language teaching, educational administration, language planning, language research, speech pathology, lexicography, publishing, and foreign service.

Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics

The major in linguistics consists of a minimum of 34 semester hours comprising a core of basic courses in general linguistics plus a variety of electives. The core of the linguistics major consists of 20 semester hours in Linguistics 104, 200, 300, 402, 405, 406, and 408. Majors are required to obtain a grade of C or better in each of these core courses. In addition, 12 semester hours of electives must be selected from other linguistics courses offered at the 400 level.

 

Required Core Courses for the BA in Linguistics (20 semester hours) 

LING 104-2 Grammar in Language - A review of the basic concepts of grammar

LING 200-3 Language, Society, and the Mind ­ An exploration of the social and psychological dimensions of language

LING 300-3 Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics - Basic principles of language structure (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax)

LING 402-3 Phonetics - Basic principles of phonetics

LING 405-3 Phonological Theories - Introduction to phonology

LING 406-3 Introduction to Historical Linguistics - Survey of historical and comparative linguistics (meets the Writing the Curriculum requirement)

LING 408-3 Syntactic Theory - Contemporary syntactic theory

 

To this you add enough Linguistics courses to total 34 hours. Some of the courses that are offered relatively frequently include:

LING 341-3 Introduction to Intercultural Communication - Examination of the interactions between social perception and expression as manifest in language

LING 404-3 American Dialects - Regional, social, and ethnic variation in American English

LING 412-3 Linguistic Structure of Japanese - Basic principles of Japanese linguistics

LING 415-3 Sociolinguistics ­ Social aspects of language, including dialects, pidgins and creoles, multilingualism

LING 445-3    Psycholinguistics - Language comprehension and production, first and second language acquisition

LING 453-3 Methods in Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages - Basic methods of TESOL

LING 454-3 Observation and Practice in TESOL - Observation of various second language teaching situations, opportunity for some limited practice teaching

LING 455-3 Materials in TESOL - Principles underlying the development of teaching materials

LING 456-3 Contrastive and Error Analysis - Study of interference of other languages on English at various levels

 

Foreign language requirement: Since the study of linguistics involves familiarity with language other than one's native language, knowledge of a foreign language is a requirement for a degree in linguistics. This requirement, which also satisfies the foreign language requirement of the College of Liberal Arts, involves either one year of an uncommon or non-Western language or two years of any foreign language. International students whose native language is not English and who have successfully satisfied the requirement of the office of Admissions and Records for English language proficiency will also have satisfied the Linguistics Department foreign language requirement by offering English as their foreign language.

Please note that not every course is offered every semester.  Other courses are occasionally offered and some courses in other departments can be counted with permission of the undergraduate advisor.

 

You are advised to see the department's undergraduate advisor before you register each semester. S/he will be able to tell you which courses are on the schedule for the next semester.  Also remember that some courses must be taken in a certain sequence. In particular, you must take Phonetics (402) before Phonology (405) before Historical Linguistics (406). In addition, you must have Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics (300), Phonetics (402), and Syntactic Theories (408) before you take Psycholinguistics (445).

 

As an undergraduate major, you are a member of the Linguistics Student Association (LSA) and are welcome at the events (picnics, parties, etc.). In addition, you will have a mailbox with your name on it in the Linguistics Department mailroom (Faner 3233). Since your mailbox is used as the primary way to communicate with you, you should check it several times a week.

 

Remember that there are additional requirements: one year of an uncommon or non-Western language or two years of a common language. International students whose native language is not English may count their study of English to fulfill this requirement. Also, Linguistics is in the College of Liberal Arts, and there is a COLA requirement: English or Linguistics 290 (Advanced English Composition).

 

Linguistics Minor

 

The minor in linguistics (a minimum of 17 hours) draws upon the core courses of the Department of Linguistics. Students are introduced to the structure of language, the historical development of languages, and the relation of language to the rest of culture. A minor in linguistics is of special interest to students in anthropology, computer science, English, foreign languages and literatures, mathematics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, speech communication, and communication disorders and sciences.

Course requirements for the minor in linguistics are 104, 200, and 300, plus at least three courses (9 semester hours) from among the following: 402, 404, 405, 406, 408, 415, 440, 450, 453, and 497.