2006-2007 Undergraduate Bulletin [ARCHIVED BULLETIN]
Linguistics, B.A. Specialization in
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Linguistics is the systematic, scientific study of language.
Linguistics has many subfields, including the history and relationship
among languages, the study of meaning, grammar and context, the sound
patterns of language, the interplay between language and society, the
role of language and cognition in human evolution, the importance of
language in interpersonal and intergroup communication, and the
significance of linguistic analysis in law. It is language that most
clearly separates humans from all other species on the planet. Human
affairs revolve around language. Linguistics enables students to
understand the inner workings of this most special human tool: how and
why communication happens or fails to happen, how language is used to
support people in groups, how the structure of language is the
structure of human intelligence. Linguistics prepares a student for
many possible occupations. Linguistics gives language students a deeper
understanding of how their language works. Linguists often go into
language and computer-related fields. TESOL students teach English at
all levels, and all over the globe. Anthropologists consider
linguistics to be one of the core fields of anthropology. Linguistics
helps those in legal professions to use language more precisely, and to
better understand manipulation and deception in legal applications.
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