Dec 14, 2024  
2016-2017 Undergraduate Bulletin 
    
2016-2017 Undergraduate Bulletin [ARCHIVED BULLETIN]

Linguistics, BA Major in


Professor Leonard, PhD, Program Director, 516-463-5440
Assistant Professor Gales, PhD, Program Adviser

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.

Program Requirements - Semester Hours: 30


Consists of the successful completion of 30 s.h. as follows: 12 s.h. of required courses, 9 s.h. of LING elective courses, and 9 s.h. of additional LING and/or other language-related elective courses. No more than 9 s.h. in any one prefix outside of LING may count toward the linguistics major.

Required Courses - Semester Hours: 12


Linguistics Electives – Semester Hours: 9


Recommended courses:

Language-related Electives – Semester Hours: 9


Recommended courses:

Linguistics Specialties (Optional)


We recommend (but do not require) that, through advisement, students choose a particular specialty to organize the remainder of their course selection for the major. Three possible specialties are cultural linguistics, psycholinguistics, and TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language). Other specialties may be delineated by advisement.

Psycholinguistics


Sample recommended courses:

TESOL


Sample recommended courses: