Majors and Minors

Majors

The Department of Linguistics offers a major in Linguistics; a major in Language, Culture & Society; and a number of emphases that add a specialization to the Linguistics major.

The department’s major in Linguistics focuses on the structure and use of language as a fundamental human activity, exploring similarities and differences across the languages of the world in phonetics, phonology, grammar, meaning, historical linguistics, and other aspects of linguistic structure, function, and cognition. It is especially recommended for students planning to pursue a graduate degree in linguistics, and for students interested in careers allowing them to make use of the knowledge and analytical skills they develop in linguistic analysis.

Bachelor of Arts – Linguistics

The department's major in Language, Culture & Society is an interdisciplinary degree that focuses on sociocultural linguistics, combining aspects of sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and related fields. It is especially recommended for students planning to pursue a graduate degree related to sociocultural linguistics, and for students interested in careers allowing them to combine issues of language, culture, and society.

Bachelor of Arts - Language, Culture & Society

The department also offers emphases in a variety of modern languages: Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Slavic (Russian), and Spanish. These emphases allow students to combine a strong foundation in linguistics with close study of a particular language. The language emphases are especially recommended for students planning to pursue graduate study of linguistics within a modern language department, and for students interested in careers involving a high degree of language ability and knowledge of linguistic structure, including international careers.

Bachelor of Arts – Linguistics – Chinese Emphasis
Bachelor of Arts – Linguistics – English Emphasis
Bachelor of Arts – Linguistics – French Emphasis 
Bachelor of Arts – Linguistics – German Emphasis 
Bachelor of Arts – Linguistics – Japanese Emphasis 
Bachelor of Arts – Linguistics – Slavic Emphasis 
Bachelor of Arts – Linguistics – Spanish Emphasis

In addition, the department offers an emphasis in Speech and Language Technologies. Students in this emphasis complete a range of courses that cover the structural analysis of language, quantitative and statistical methods for detecting sequential and hierarchical patterns, and computational approaches for parsing and synthesizing speech and language. The Speech and Language Technologies emphasis is ideal for students planning to pursue careers in many aspects of tech-oriented industries, such as software development, search algorithms and analytics, voice recognition, language-based user interfaces, and speech synthesis. 

Bachelor of Arts – Linguistics – Speech and Language Technologies

Finally, the department offers an emphasis in Speech-Language Sciences and Disorders, designed to provide students with pre-requisite courses for entrance into a graduate program in Communication Sciences and Disorders. However, this program alone will not fulfill all of the pre-requisites for a Communication Sciences and Disorders graduate program. For more information, please schedule an appointment, or contact, the undergraduate advisor.

Bachelor of Arts – Linguistics – Speech-Language Sciences and Disorders


Minors

The department also offers five minors: General Linguistics, Sociocultural Linguistics, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, Speech and Language Technologies, and Speech-Language Sciences and Disorders. Minors allow students to add depth in linguistics to another degree, in preparation for graduate school in linguistics or a related field or for a career requiring linguistic knowledge and/or analytic ability. 

Minor – Linguistics 
Minor – Sociocultural Linguistics
Minor - Speech and Language Technologies
Minor - Speech-Language Sciences and Disorders

Minor - Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Students majoring in linguistics are encouraged to minor in related areas to which the Department of Linguistics contributes, such as the American Indian and Indigenous Studies minor, the Feminist Studies minor, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Studies minor, or a minor in a modern or classical language. For more information about minor requirements, visit the Office of the Registrar.