Student Learning Outcomes

1. Evaluate claims about human communication and about the innate language competence in humans

2. Explain the scientific basis of specific languages and the universal principles that underlie the knowledge of all languages

3. Classify social, psychological and biological aspects of language including language and thought, language acquisition, the representation of language in the human nervous system, disordered language, speech production

4. Describe the role of language in culture and society

5. Analyze the history and structure of one or more particular languages

6. Apply the relevance of all of the above to the practice of language pedagogy

Major Requirements

Linguistic studies majors and prospective majors must consult the director of the program before registration.

Students must fulfill the Liberal Arts Core Language Skills requirement in one language and successfully complete at least 6 credits in an additional language (other than English) that is structurally significantly different from the language used to fulfill the Liberal Arts Core requirement. The following pairs of languages cannot be used to fulfill this requirement: Korean/Japanese, Russian/Polish, Arabic/Hebrew. No pair of languages from the following group may be used to fulfill this requirement: Spanish/Portuguese/Italian/French/Latin.

In addition, students successfully complete three core courses LIN 301 - Introductory Linguistic Analysis , LIN 431 - Phonological Analysis , and LIN 441 - Syntactic Analysis . Major requirements also include the successful completion of at least 18 credits of additional work, of which at least 9 credits are in courses numbered 300 or above. The 18 credits must be in approved linguistic studies courses, chosen from at least three of the following groups: