Interdisciplinary Linguistics

Interdisciplinary Linguistics students develop excellent analytic writing and communication skills, which are assets in almost any career. Linguists find employment with interpreting and translation, second language education, writing, editing, proofreading, public speaking, broadcasting, policy writing, language planning and policy, literacies, forensic linguistics, sign linguistics, computer-meditated communication, lexicography, speech pathology therapy, voice coaching, acting, and as communication specialists in business, advertising, law, and medicine.

Introduction to Linguistics, a first-year course, introduces students to the nature of human language and linguistic research by focusing on the core areas of linguistic analysis: phonetics and phonology (sound structure), morphology (word structure), syntax (sentence structure), semantics (the structure of meaningful categories), and pragmatics (actual language use), as well as on language acquisition, language variation and change.

Languages of the World, a second-year course, examines the linguistic map of the world where approximately 7000 languages are currently spoken, focusing on the spatial distribution of both language families and language isolates, and exploring the principles of language classification. A closer look at six different languages, each from a different continent, reveals the way different language types work in practice.

Sociolinguistics, a third-year course, examines language as a social phenomenon with a focus on the relationship between language and various social variables such as age, class, ethnicity and gender. The course further examines language variations on regional (regional dialects), social (sociolects) and personal (styles and registers) level, as well as topics such as standard language, slang, jargon, politeness and taboo, multilingualism, code switching, and the problems of language planning.

• Syntax
• Linguistic Anthropology
• Psycholinguistics
• Phonetics and Phonology
• Indo-European Language and Mythology

LING-1001(6) Introduction to Linguistics
LING-2103(3) Languages of the World
ENGL-1000(3) English 1A
RHET-1101(3) Academic Writing: Humanities or any other section of Academic Writing (if required)
ANTH-2400(3) Linguistic Anthropology
6-18 credit hours Electives, depending on interest.

NOTE: This sample first year is representative of the courses you may take. For many of our programs, you may choose another set of courses and still be well on your way to a degree. Also, for most programs you do not have to take 30 credit hours (five full courses) in your first year.