The Major in Detail

Staff Advising

LING majors and potential majors should consult the Arts and Sciences advisor for Linguistics Raphael Angoulvant concerning undergraduate degree requirements (MAPS, Core, General Education, major, minor, etc.).  To make an appointment with Raphael, go to the Academic Advising Appointment System.  Students who wish to declare the Linguistics major can do so online or by meeting with Raphael (for either of these options, click here). For advice about structuring the major according to your specific interests, you may also consult with a LING faculty member of your choice. 

Prerequisites for the Major

There are no formal prerequisites for the lower-division courses in Linguistics. 

The Major

As a LING major, you must fulfill the following requirements:

  • Complete a total of 32 credit hours in LING and specified related areas, at least 18 of which must be upper-division courses.
  • Maintain a GPA of at least 2.00 (C) in both your major courses and overall.
  • Complete all LING courses with a C- or better.
  • Complete at least 5 advanced credit hours of a language other than English. The 5 credit hours offered in satisfaction of this requirement must be at the 3000 level or above for widely taught languages (French, German, Latin, Spanish), as well as Ancient Greek and Old English, or at the 2000 level or above for less widely taught languages (Arabic, American Sign Language, Chinese, Farsi, Hebrew, Hindi/Urdu, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish). Only courses taught in the language in question, and focused specifically on language learning, may be used for this requirement. To ensure that the language courses you enroll in will be accepted in satisfaction of the Linguistics language requirement, consult the list of approved language courses in advance of registration. If you have obtained the appropriate level of proficiency in a language other than English without having taken college-level coursework in that language, you may either (a) satisfy the language requirement by taking a proficiency exam through Anderson Language and Technology Center (ALTEC) or (b) produce evidence of the appropriate competence level in the language (e.g., a high school transcript attesting to graduation from a non-English-language institution). Heritage speakers of a non-English language must also provide such documentation. To inquire about obtaining a waiver of the language requirement through either of these means, contact the Linguistics undergraduate advisor. If the language coursework requirement is waived, you must take an additional 3-credit LING elective course so that you still meet the College’s minimum major requirement of 18 hours of upper-division course work and 30 hours overall in the major area.
  • Complete the following four 3-credit hour courses:
    • LING 2000 (Introduction to Linguistics)
    • LING 3100 (Sound Structures)
    • LING 3430 (Semantics)
    • LING 4420 (Morphology and Syntax)
    • Complete 15 credit hours from the following list of 3-credit linguistic electives. At least 9 credit hours of electives must be upper-division or graduate courses. Admission of undergraduates to graduate courses in Linguistics is allowed only by permission of the instructor. Note that this list includes multiple upper-division linguistic-content courses outside the Linguistics department (specifically, courses listed under ENGL, FREN, JPNS and SPAN).
      • ENGL 4003 (Introduction to Old English)
      • FREN 3010 (French Phonetics and Pronunciation)
      • FREN 3020 (French Phonetics through Musical Performance)
      • JPNS 4030 (Japanese Syntax)
      • JPNS 4070 (Second Language Acquisition of Japanese)
      • JPNS 4080 (Kanji in Japanese Orthography)
      • LING 1000 (Language in U.S. Society)*
      • LING 1010 (The Study of Words)*
      • LING 1020 (Languages of the World)*
      • LING 1200 (Programming for Linguists)
      • LING 2400 (Language, Gender, and Sexuality)*
      • LING 2500 (Race, Ethnicity, and Language)*
      • LING 3005 (Cognitive Science)*
      • LING 3185 (Figurative Language)
      • LING 3220 (American Indigenous Languages in their Social and Cultural Context)*
      • LING 3500 (Language and the Public Interest)
      • LING 3545 (World Language Rights and Policies)
      • LING 3550 (Talk at Work: Language Use in Institutional Contexts)
      • LING 3800 (Topics in Linguistics)
      • LING 4100 (Perspectives on Language)
      • LING 4220 (Language and Mind)
      • LING 4225 (Learning Language in the World)
      • LING 4450 (Introduction to Formal Syntax)
      • LING 4560 (Language Development)
      • LING 4610 (English Structure for TESOL)
      • LING 4620 (Teaching Second Language (L2) Oral Skills and Communication)
      • LING 4630 (TESOL and Second Language Acquisition: Principles and Practices)
      • LING 4632 (Machine Learning)
      • LING 4700 (Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics)
      • LING 4800 (Language and Culture)
      • LING 4830 (Honors Thesis)
      • LING 4900 (Independent Study)
      • LING 4910 (TESOL Practicum)
      • SPAN 3050 (Spanish Phonology and Phonetics)
      • SPAN 3150 (Linguistic Analysis of Spanish)
      • SPAN 4430 (Special Topics in Hispanic Linguistics)
      • SPAN 4450 (Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics)
      • Other three-credit courses offered occasionally by the Linguistics department, or any graduate Linguistics course

        Note that LING 1500 (Understanding Grammar) does not count towards hours taken for the LING major, although it does count towards total credits needed for graduation. Courses marked with an *asterisk may be taken to satisfy Arts & Sciences General Education as well as LING requirements.