Linguistics Special Major and Minor
Courses in Linguistics offer students an understanding of the fundamental structure and processes of language, and a focus on how we use language in different forms of communication from infant babbling to conversation and literature. Linguistics courses are a valuable complement to any major that deals with language, literature, the human mind and cognition, sociology, or education. Students may may also fulfill different general education requirements by taking different linguistics courses, and all 300- and 400-level linguistics courses may count toward the elective requirement in the English major. For more focused study in Linguistics, the program supports both a “Special Major” and a minor.
A “special major” is a program designed by a student and faculty advisor to define a coherent field of study that is not offered as a standard major. It must draw from at least two disciplines. The option for a Special Major in Linguistics is available to any student who wants to combine linguistics with at least one more discipline (e.g., psychology, sociology, Spanish). The Special Major involves 30-40 credits and includes a capstone course experience (a linguistics seminar or individual study in linguistics). Sample major designs are available from prior and current majors in the field. Please see here for more information about the process of designing a special major in Linguistics.
The 18-credit minor in Linguistics is open to students of any major, and has meaningful crossover with English, Primary and Secondary Education (including with English language learners), Psychology and Neuroscience, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Anthropology and more. An overview of the minor in Linguistics, including requirements, may be found here.
Faculty Specialties and Student Opportunities and Outcomes
- Dr. Paul D. Fallon: phonology, morphology, historical linguistics, writing systems
- Dr. Janie Lee: sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, linguistic anthropology, race and ethnicity
Students in Linguistics frequently engage in individual research projects and internships in the diverse areas that comprise the discipline: speech-language pathology; the curricula for English language learners in K-12 education; linguistic analysis of specific genres, like African American sermons, extremist political movements, or even gossip; or the histories of specific languages or language clusters.
Special majors in Linguistics and English majors have entered graduate programs in such fields as Linguistics, English as a second Language, speech/language pathology, audiology, and computer science (e.g. Brown University, University of Virginia, University of Florida, George Mason University, Georgetown University, University of North Carolina/Greensboro, University of Texas/Austin, University of Texas/Dallas).