Undergraduate Degrees
The Major in Linguistics
Director: Professor SimonsOffice: Baker Hall 155E
Email: simons[at]andrew.cmu.edu
At Carnegie Mellon, the field of Linguistics has an unusual representation, cutting across departments and traditional disciplinary boundaries. The Linguistics faculty are distributed amongst the departments of English, Modern Languages, Philosophy, and Psychology. In addition, the Language Technologies Institute in the School of Computer Science is home to researchers in computational linguistics and language technologies. The Major in Linguistics reflects the multidisciplinary character of the Linguistics faculty, offering a program which provides students with the fundamental tools of linguistic analysis while maintaining a focus on the human context in which language is learned and used. After completing their core courses, students can follow a concentration in one of three areas: Language in its Social Context, Language and Mind, or Language and Communication. Various specialized electives, including Language Technology courses, are available to students with the appropriate preparation. Students can choose to focus fairly narrowly on an area of particular interest, or to explore more widely.
The Major in Linguistics is available as either a primary major or an additional major.
A Minor in Linguistics is also available. For information, click here.
Curriculum
I. Required Courses
A. Fundamental Skills (36 units)
Complete one course from each of the groups below. Additional Courses from these groups may be taken as electives.
| Introductory course | 80-180 | Nature of Language |
| Sounds | 80-282 | Phonetics and Phonology |
| Structure | 80-280 | Linguistic Analysis or |
| 76-389 | Rhetorical Grammar | |
| Meaning | 80-306 | Meaning in Language or |
| 76-385 | Discourse Analysis |
B. Language Requirement (18-24 units)
Complete 2 semesters of language study in a single language. (Sequential courses)
II. Electives (45 units)
The electives are orgnized into three thematically coherent groups: Language in Its Social Context, Language and Mind, and Language and Communication. There is an additional set of specialized electives. Students must complete 5 elective courses. At least three courses must be selected from one thematic group. The remaining two courses can be selected from any group or from the specialized electives.
Group 1: Language in its Social Context
76-244 World English
76-318 Communicating in the Global Marketplace
76-341 American English
76-386 Language and Culture
76-451 Topics in Language Study*
76-490 Discourse and Identity
82-358 Literacies across Language and Culture
82-483 Topics in Modern Languages*
82-384 Language and Culture: Langauge in its Social Context
82-388 Understanding Second Language Fluency
82-480 Social and Cognitive Aspects of Bilingualism
82-585 Pragmatics and Second Language Learning
82-891 Second Language Acquisition in a Study Abroad Context
Group 2: Language and Mind
76-420 Process of Reading and Writing
80-281 Language and Thought (Philosophy)
80-380 Philosophy of Language
82-483 Topics in Modern Languages*
82-280 Learning about Language Learning
82-383 Second Language Acquisition
82-480 Social and Cognitive Aspects of Bilingualism
85-354 Language Acquisition in Infancy and Childhood
85-356 Music and Mind: the Cognitive Neuroscience of Sound
85-421 Language and Thought (Psychology)
85-455 The Discovery of Spoken Language
Group 3: Language and Communication
76-318 Communicating in the Global Marketplace
76-357 Language, Power and the Law
76-381 Contemporary Rhetorical Theory
76-451 Topics in Language Study*
76-457 Topics in Rhetorical Study*
76-490 Discourse and Identity
80-380 Philosophy of Language
82-388 Understanding Second Language Fluency
82-483 Topics in Modern Languages*
82-585 Pragmatics and Second Language Learning
* A variety of different topics are taught under these course numbers. The suitability of the course as an elective in a given group will depend on the specific topic. Students should consult with the faculty advisor.
Specialized Electives
Courses in this group have prerequisites outside the Linguistics Major, but may be taken by any students with appropriate background.
82-277 The Japanese Language
82-334 Structure of Chinese
82-373 Structure of the Japanese Language
82-444 Structure of Spanish
85-356 Music and Mind: the Cognitive Neuroscience of Sound
11-4XX Introduction to Natural Language Processing
11-582 Language Technologies
11-521 Grammars and Lexicons
11-531 Machine translation
11-541 Information Retrieval
11-552 Speech: Phonetics, Prosodics, Perception, and Synthesis
11-722 Grammar Formalisms
III. Senior Thesis (12 units)
In their senior year, typically in the Spring semester, students must complete a senior thesis under the direction of a faculty member of their choosing. The thesis project must be of a scope appropriate for the 12-unit course credit. Students who participate in the Honors program may combine their Honors thesis and Major thesis, as long as the thesis is of appropriate scope.
Students for whom Linguistics is a second major may substitute an additional elective for the Senior Thesis requirement after consultation with the Faculty Advisor.