Course Descriptions

This course explores major branches of linguistics, including:

• phonetics & phonology (the production and perception of speech sounds)
• morphology and lexicon (the structure of building meanings in words)
• syntax (the logical 'rules' of language use in speech or writing)
• semantics (the cognitive meaning conveyed through linguistic utterances).

Through this course, students gain the fundamental knowledge needed to digest and analyze linguistic research in a variety of contexts. With these understandings, students will begin to explore how the distinct branches of linguistic study inform interdisciplinary research in fields like natural language processing, sociolinguistics, anthropological linguistics, historical linguistics, computational linguistics, and psycholinguistics.

Offered every fall and spring.

Linguistics minors typically take this course during the spring of their senior year, although some who finish the preceding minor courses early may instead choose to take it sooner. The course is designed to function similar to a directed reading; there are no official course meeting times nor any lectures, but students should plan to regularly meet with their capstone advisors and dedicate 3 hours of in-person work/consultation in addition to research and writing time on their own.

Students choose faculty advisors by determining topics they have come across in their previous courses that they are interested in researching, and then requesting advisement from a faculty advisor whose research interests align. Students should regularly meet with their faculty advisors to check in on progress throughout the semester. The student will take what he or she has learned in their previous linguistics courses to design or assist with a research project in consultation with their faculty advisor and write a capstone research paper to present to the community by the end of that term's reading days.

Faculty advisors must agree to serve in this capacity prior to the start of the term that the student intends to register for the Reseach Capstone course.

This practicum option is open to all linguistics minors but will be of particular interest and utility for those choosing an emphasis in language acquisition. Students are paired with the CSLC's English for Academic Purposes coordinator or a local community partner (such as a community center, school, or academic support institute offering language support to local learners).

The practicum course results in a professional e-portfolio which students can refer to as they enter the job market after graduation with the intention to continue in the field of education, teaching abroad, second language acquisition research or graduate study. Components of the portfolio/practicum showcase a variety of professional skills and proficiencies, amounting to 30 hours of community engagement/practicum contact hours. There is no regular meeting pattern for this course, but students should plan to meet 1-2 times per week with their community partners in addition to regular check-ins with the CSLC DUS to track progress.

Most of us don't recall having to try to learn our mother tongue (L1) -- we acquired it before our formative years, in tandem with our consciousness. To be taught another language (L2) explicitly is a distinctly different experience and is processed, housed, and accessed differently in our brains. This course provides an overview of the principles of language learning--both L1s and L2s--which is knowledge for language learners and teachers alike. The course also delves into challenges of conducting and applying SLA research including issues in proficiency assessment, bilingualism, multicultural school settings, learner motivations/attitudes, and more.

Offered in Spring semesters of even calendar years (2026, 2028, 2030)

This course covers the inherently interdisciplinary underpinnings of sociolinguistics, the distinct subfield of linguistic study which seeks to understand the complexities of how human language is used in a myriad of contexts. More simply put: determining and measuring the relationship between language and society. Students examine spaces where language and constructs like class, gender, race, regional orientation, come together to affect our interactions on a micro (interpersonal) and macro (international) scale. With sociolinguistic lenses, we can evaluate how we use language to influence large-scale discourse like political rhetoric to anthropological understandings of diverse cultural identities and even internally investigating how our brains react to varieties of linguistic style, register, and dialect based on the social constructs informing the social group in question.

Offered in Spring semesters of odd calendar years (2025, 2027, 2029)