Preparation for the Major

• Linguistics 101 (3 units)
• One course selected from:
  • Linguistics 270 (3 units)
  • Economics 201 (3 units)
  • Philosophy 120 (3 units)
  • Political Science 201 (3 units)
  • Psychology 280 (3 units)
  • Sociology 201 (3 units)
  • Statistics 119 (3 units)
  • Statistics 250 (3 units)

Major

A minimum of 27 upper division units to include at least 21 units in linguistics (and those 21 must include the courses below; and cannot include more than nine units from 300-level courses); with the approval of the adviser, up to six units may be selected from related fields. LING 305W may not be applied to the major.

• Linguistics 420 (3 units) or Linguistics 501 (3 units)
• Linguistics 521 (3 units)
• Linguistics 522 (3 units)
• Linguistics 525 (3 units) 

Students majoring in Linguistics must complete a minor in another field approved by the departmental adviser in Linguistics. Recommended fields include Anthropology, Communication, Ethnic Studies, a language other than English, History, Journalism and Media Studies, Literature, Philosophy, Psychology, Public Affairs, Rhetoric and Writing Studies, and Sociology.

Linguistics 101: Introduction to Language (3 units) [GE]
The nature of language. Sound, meaning, and grammar. Language history and change. Dialects and variation. Language acquisition. Animal communication. Language and the brain.
Note: Not open to students with credit in upper division linguistics courses, excluding LING 305W.

Linguistics 270: Elementary Statistics for Language Studies (3 units) [GE]
Introductory statistics and probability using language data to illustrate statistical ideas and facilitate analyses of quantitative language data. Measures of central tendency and dispersion, correlation, mixed models, regression, and significance. Probabilistic explanation in linguistics.
Note: Students with credit or concurrent registration in the following lower division statistics courses will be awarded a total of four units for two (or more) courses: Linguistics 270, ARP 201, BIOL 215, CIV E 160, ECON 201, POL S 201, PSY 280, SOC 201, STAT 119, STAT 250.

Linguistics 350: Language and Politics (3 units) [GE]
Linguistics devices used to persuade in politics. Differences between what is literally said and what is actually conveyed in political discourse. How political speakers and writers use grammar, sound structure, and vocabulary to persuade.

Linguistics 352: Language and Advertising (3 units)
Linguistic devices used to persuade in advertising. Differences between what is literally said and what is actually conveyed in advertisements. How advertisers use the grammar, sound structure, and vocabulary of languages (especially English) to persuade audiences.

Linguistics 354: Language and Computers (3 units) [GE]
Computers, computer programming languages, and “artificial intelligence” viewed from perspective of human language.

Linguistics 363: Sociocultural Analysis of Black Languages (3 units) (Same course as Africana Studies 363)
Social and cultural functions of Black languages, verbal and nonverbal, in Afro-American life, and their profound impact on larger society. Also, a probe into issues concerning validity of Black English.
Note: This course satisfies the ethnic studies [ES] requirement.

Linguistics 420: Linguistics and English (3 units) [GE]
Introduction to sound and grammatical structure of language, with special attention to English. Language acquisition and variation. Of special interest to prospective teachers. Not open to students with credit in Linguistics 501.

Linguistics 430:  English Grammar for Prospective Teachers (3 units)
Prerequisites: Linguistics 101 or Linguistics 420 and upper division standing.
Core grammatical concepts and facts of English grammar. Parts of speech; grammatical relations; word, sentence, discourse structure. Focus on standard written English. Of special interest to prospective secondary school teachers.

Linguistics 452: Language Acquisition (3 units) [GE]
Prerequisite: Linguistics 420.
Principles of child language development. Sounds and grammar in speech of young children. Acquisition of reading and vocabulary. Relationship between cognitive development and language. Development of language in bilinguals. Second language acquisition.

Linguistics 454: Second Language Acquisition (3 units) [GE]
Prerequisite: Linguistics 101, Linguistics 420, or Spanish 448.
Basic facts about the acquisition of nonnative languages in adulthood to include beginning and end points, implicit and explicit learning, individual differences, input and output, ordered development, and the role of instruction.

Linguistics 457: Community-Based Language Fieldwork (1 unit)
Two hours of activity.
Prerequisite: Concurrent registration in upper division course requiring term paper on language behavior (e.g. LING 452).
Fieldwork in language use in community setting. Students observe, keep field notes, analyze language behavior (e.g. speaking, reading, writing, listening).

Linguistics 460: American Indian Languages (3 units) [GE] (Same course as American Indian Studies 460 and Anthropology 460)
Structures of American Indian languages. Language families of North America, history, and present circumstances. Interdependence of language and culture, differences in ways of speaking. Issues of language endangerment, language death, language maintenance, and language revitalization.
Note: This course satisfies the ethnic studies [ES] requirement.

Linguistics 496: Experimental Topics in Linguistics (1-4 units)
Specialized study of a selected topic in linguistics. May be repeated with new content. Maximum Credits: six units.
Note: See Class Schedule for specific content. Limit of nine units of any combination of 296, 496, 596 courses applicable to a bachelor’s degree.

Linguistics 499: Special Study (1-3 units)
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
Individual study. Maximum Credits: six units.

Linguistics 501: Fundamentals of Linguistics (3 units)
Prerequisite: Upper division standing.
Principles of modern linguistics, with attention to English phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics; universals and typology.

Linguistics 502: Language in Mind and Society (3 units)
Prerequisite: Linguistics 501.
Child language acquisition, adult language production/comprehension and sociolinguistics. Dialects, language variation, and standardization. Bilingualism and language change.

Linguistics 503: Functions of Language (3 units)
Prerequisite: Linguistics 501.
Empirical methods in linguistics. Phonological structure of English and other languages. Functional and discourse related approaches to language patterns. Connections between morphosyntactic concepts and functional/discourse concepts to conduct text analysis.

Linguistics 521: Phonology (3 units)
Prerequisite: Linguistics 420 or Linguistics 501.
Theoretical principles of transformational-generative phonology.

Linguistics 522: Syntax (3 units)
Prerequisite: Linguistics 420 or Linguistics 501.
Theoretical principles of transformational-generative syntax.

Linguistics 523: Morphology (3 units)
Prerequisite: Linguistics 420 or Linguistics 501.
Theoretical principles of words structure, including inflection, derivation, and compounding; organization of the lexicon; structure of inflectional paradigms; morphophonological and morphosyntactic alterations; and computational Applications.

Linguistics 525: Semantics and Pragmatics (3 units)
Prerequisite: Linguistics 420 or Linguistics 501.
Advanced semantic theory; systematic analysis of the interaction of sequences of language with real world context in which they are used.

Linguistics 526: Discourse Analysis (3 units)
Prerequisite: Linguistics 420 or Linguistics 501.
Theories of discourse structure. Text and context. Frameworks for analyzing written and spoken discourses such as genre analysis, conversation analysis, critical discourse analysis, discourse and grammar, speech act theory, and corpus linguistics. Applications of discourse analysis such as cross-cultural misunderstanding.

Linguistics 530: English Grammar (3 units)
Prerequisite: Six upper division units in linguistics.
English morphology, syntax, and discourse structure, including simple and complex sentence structure; lexical categories and subcategories; discourse functions of selected constructions. Problems and solutions in teaching English grammar.

Linguistics 550: Theory and Practice of English as a Second Language (3 units)
Prerequisite: Linguistics 101, Linguistics 420, or Linguistics 501.
The nature of language learning; evaluation of techniques and materials for the teaching of English as a second language.

Linguistics 551: Sociolinguistics (3 units)
Prerequisite: A course in introductory linguistics.
Investigation of the correlation of social structure and linguistic behavior.

Linguistics 552: Psycholinguistics (3 units)
Prerequisite: Linguistics 420 or Linguistics 501.
Psychological and mental processes related to comprehension, production, perception, and acquisition of language in adults and children.

Linguistics 553: Bilingualism (3 units)
Prerequisite: Linguistics 420, Linguistics 501, Linguistics 448, or Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences 300.
Bilingualism in society and in schools. Cognition, language processing, and representation in bilinguals. Research methods in the study of bilingualism.

Linguistics 555: Practical Issues in Teaching English as a Second Language (3 units)
Prerequisite: Credit or concurrent registration in Linguistics 550.
Practical approaches to applications of the theory of English as a Second Language (ESL) and methodology for speaking, reading, listening, writing; techniques for facilitating growth of communicative competence.

Linguistics 556: Computer Assisted Language Learning and Teaching (3 units)
Prerequisite: Credit or concurrent registration in Linguistics 550.
Theory and practice of computer assisted language learning and language teaching. Hands-on experience with pedagogical aspects of using technology in the language classroom.

Linguistics 571: Computational Corpus Linguistics (3 units)
Prerequisite: Upper division standing.
Practical introduction to computation with text corpora and introduction to Python. Tokenizing, part-of-speech tagging, and lemmatizing (stemming) large corpora. Writing of Python programs required.

Linguistics 572: Python Scripting for Social Science (3 units) (Same course as Big Data Analytics 572)
Prerequisite: Upper division or graduate standing.
Python scripting for social science data. Statements and expressions. Strings, lists, dictionaries, files. Python with unformatted data (regular expressions). Graphs and social networks. Spatial data and simple GIS scripts.

Linguistics 581: Computational Linguistics (3 units) (Same course as Computer Science 581)
Prerequisite: Linguistics 571 or Linguistics 572 or Big Data Analytics 572 or Computer Science 320.
Basic concepts in computational linguistics including regular expressions, finite-state automata, finite-state transducers, weighted finite-state automata, and n-gram language models. Applications to phonology, orthography, morphology, syntax. Probabilistic models. Statistical techniques for speech recognition.

Linguistics 583: Statistical Methods in Text Analysis (3 units)
Prerequisites: Linguistics 571 or Linguistics 572 or Big Data Analytics 572; and Statistics 550 or Statistics 551A.
Statistical methods for analysis of large texts to include Bayesian classifiers, Markov models, maximum entropy models, neural nets, and support vector machines. Data collection and annotation. Applications to annotation, relation detection, sentiment analysis, and topic modeling.

Linguistics 596: Selected Topics in Linguistics (1-3 units)
Prerequisite: Upper division standing.
Advanced study of selected topics. May be repeated with new content.
Note: See Class Schedule for specific content. Limit of nine units of any combination of 296, 496, 596 courses applicable to a bachelor’s degree. Credit for 596 and 696 applicable to a master’s degree with approval of the graduate adviser.

Linguistics 597: Research Practicum (3 units)
Grading Method: Cr/NC
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor and a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better.
Participation in a specific research activity under faculty supervision. Maximum credit three units toward the major and minor in linguistics. Maximum Credits: Maximum combined credit of three units of LING 597 and LING 797 toward the master’s degree in linguistics.

Language, Culture, and Society 300: Language, Culture, and Society (3 units) [GE]
Prerequisites: Linguistics 101 and Anthropology 102.
Language, culture, and society study using anthropology and linguistics. Bilingualism, dialect variation, language endangerment and preservation, language ideology and policy, sexism and racism.
Note: This course satisfies the general education cultural diversity requirement.

The undergraduate program offers courses in general, applied, and computational linguistics, which provides students with a broad background in linguistics. The undergraduate program prepares students to work in a language-related field in industry or education and/or to pursue graduate work specializing in some area of linguistics. Using the methods and theories of linguistics also teaches students how to solve problems, analyze structural patterns, and address multiple sides of a question, skills that can be applied to any area of study or profession.

PLG 1: Demonstrate knowledge about properties and diversity of languages of the world.
Demonstrate knowledge about (a) commonalities and diversity of language (within and across languages), language relationships, and language acquisition, (b) the nature and dimensions of cultural and linguistic variation, including non-standard varieties, within American society as well as globally.

Program Learning Goals

PLG 2: Demonstrate ability to do critical thinking, logical reasoning, and comprehend scholarly writing on a linguistic topic.
Demonstrate ability to do critical thinking, logical reasoning, and comprehend scholarly writing on a linguistic topic.

PLG 3: Be prepared for graduate study in linguistics.
Be prepared for graduate study in linguistics: (a) demonstrate foundations in core areas of linguistics and their theoretical approaches, (b) demonstrate ability to perform systematic analyses of linguistic data.

PLG 4: Be able to contribute effectively to fields that needs employees with linguistics background.
Be able to contribute effectively to industry that needs employees with linguistics background, such as teaching and computers.

Degree Learning Outcomes

DLO 1: Perform linguistic analysis (English).
Perform linguistic analysis of language data from one or more dialects of English.

DLO 2: Perform linguistic analysis (LOTE).
Perform linguistic analysis of language data from languages other than English.

DLO 3: Produce academic papers synthesizing notions.
Produce academic papers synthesizing notions from topics in linguistics.

DLO 4: Articulate similarities and differences across different theoretical positions in linguistics.
Articulate similarities and differences across different theoretical positions in linguistics

DLO 5: Perform analyses of linguistic data at various levels such as phonology, and syntax.
Perform analyses of linguistic data at various levels such as phonology, and syntax.

DLO 6: Produce academic papers that reflect critical thinking and show qualities suitable for graduate work.
Produce academic papers that reflect critical thinking and show qualities suitable for graduate work.

DLO 7: Apply linguistic analysis to real world problems.
Use knowledge of language structure and use to shed light on problems in the social sciences and humanities.

DLO 8: Make GE connections.
Offer courses that help students meet the foundations and fulfill the goals and learning outcomes of GE courses in the Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Download the curricular matrix.

For linguistics majors, career planning resources can provide valuable guidance in navigating the diverse opportunities available in the field. Whether you're interested in academia, language technology, research, or industries like education and publishing, there are numerous pathways where your skills in language analysis, communication, and problem-solving are in demand.

Exploring career resources, such as job listings, alumni experiences, and professional organizations, can help you gain a clearer understanding of potential career trajectories and connect with the right opportunities.

Highlights of key resources to help linguistics majors plan for successful internships and careers:

• Learn about what linguistics is and what linguists do: Why Major in Linguistics
• See an overview of careers in linguistics.
• Check the LINGUIST List for job postings in linguistics.
• Visit the Linguistic Society of America for details about careers and graduate programs in linguistics.
• Visit SDSU Handshake to see internship and job postings for SDSU students.

Hear from some of our linguistics alumni about their careers: