Lsa why major in linguistics

Undergraduates who major in linguistics study language as a structured system and have the opportunity to explore through individualized programs whatever aspects of language structure, change, behavior, and use that are of particular interest. The Department of Linguistics has over undergraduate majors, and awards an average of 45 B. The Honors Program in Linguistics provides majors with the in-depth research experience of writing an honors thesis under the close supervision of a faculty member.

Majors who are considering graduate study whether in Linguistics or another field are especially encouraged to participate by finding a faculty supervisor near the end of their junior year or early in their senior year. For more information, please visit the link below. Students who minor in linguistics may do so out of general interest in the discipline, or may wish to complement their major in another field in ways that help integrate their cross-disciplinary interests in language-related issues.

Studying Linguistics opens up a wide range of career opportunities—from the tech industry, law, human services, academia, and beyond. As our alumni profiles demonstrate, Linguists are at work all across the globe!

Apply Visit Give Navigation. Why Study Linguistics at UO? Undergraduate Programs. Explore Undergraduate Programs. Graduate Programs. Explore Graduate Programs. Our Community. Explore Study Abroad. Your Future Career. A degree in linguistics opens doors in many fields from academic to government to industry. As a linguistics major, you will find lots of opportunities to engage with fellow students , professors, local communities and workplaces, and even the world!

Skip to main content. University of Pittsburgh. Undergraduate Undergraduate Undergraduate Linguistics is, in short, the scientific study of language. Major Requirements Majoring in linguistics can set you on an exciting academic and career path. The coursework in LING , , and should be completed as soon as possible, as it is intended to ensure that all students gain a solid understanding of the nature of language and the methods currently employed in the study of language.

Additional Courses. Each term, the Linguistics Undergraduate Program distributes a list of courses offered by other units that are approved for major credit in Linguistics. See under " Major Profiles " for three organized sub-plans that are available to majors whose interests fall into one of those areas. Because the study of language is inherently interdisciplinary, a major in Linguistics can be designed to integrate very well with other academic fields. A large proportion of current linguistics majors more than half complete double majors.

However, since LSA places no limit on the number of credits that may be offered jointly for both majors, this allows students to double-concentrate with substantially fewer than 60 total major credits.

Honors Plan. The Department of Linguistics offers three sub-plans within the major. These are optional: no concentrator is required to follow any sub-plan.

They are offered for the benefit of those students who wish to have more structure in their major program than is provided by the default option, which comprises the four core courses plus seven electives. Coursework in this area addresses both practical and theoretical issues. Although much of the emphasis in these courses is on teaching English as a Second Language ESL , the principles and practices studied apply to instruction in any non-native language. A sequence of coursework in this area is especially useful for students interested in teaching ESL, particularly in international settings.

Students will have opportunities to meet faculty members and observe language courses in the language departments and at the English Language Institute, a principal center of second language instructional research and curriculum development. Specific topics include, but are not limited to, linguistic theory, psycholinguistics, cognition, perception, reasoning, and formal and computational models of linguistic knowledge and processes.

The sub-major focuses on the investigation both of universal aspects of human linguistic knowledge and of cognitive mechanisms that determine the observed diversity of human language. This profile is also relevant for students who wish to pursue graduate study in linguistics; psychology; cognitive science; speech, language and hearing science; philosophy; education; computer science and artificial intelligence; and related fields.

In addition, it is of direct interest to students with applied career goals in domains that utilize the knowledge base from this track: natural language processing by computers, human computer interaction, teaching and learning languages, literacy and the diagnosis and treatment of language disorders. To follow this profile, students are advsied to take 12 credits, chosen from an approved list of courses see the Department's website for the list.

Courses in this profile focus on issues related to historical, sociocultural, and typological aspects of linguistics, particularly as these are relevant to multilingualism and multiculturalism.

The sub-plan is designed to teach students to use the tools of linguistic inquiry to address questions of relationships among languages, cultures, and societies. Special attention is devoted to the emergence of global languages, particularly nowadays English.

The courses in this track approach the study of language from a variety of perspectives and seek to equip students to become productive and informed citizens in an increasingly multicultural world. Students who follow this profile are advised to take 12 credits, chosen from an approved list of courses see the Department's website for the list ; we strongly recommend that LING , Introduction to Sociolinguistics, be one of these courses. Students interested in combining linguistics with work in a particular language should take courses dealing with the history and structure of that language.