interdisciplinary minor in linguistics

Language is all around us, and there are many ways of thinking about this unique human capacity. Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Linguists explore the sounds, the words, the sentences, and the meanings of language. Linguistics is closely related to other areas of study which deal with human language and itÕs uses. Such areas include philosophy, psychology, anthropology, sociology, computer science, literary studies, and education. The interdisciplinary minor in linguistics may be combined with a major in any of the areas listed above or in any other field of study. By taking the required minor courses, students are introduced to the fundamental concepts of modern linguistic theory. The elective courses allow students to explore how these concepts relate to various other disciplines.

requirements

The interdisciplinary minor in linguistics consists of 15 credits, distributed as follows:

• Three credits in general linguistics (ling 326)
• Three credits from one of the following:
  • syntactic theory (ling 486),
  • phonological theory (ling 490), or
  • linguistic semantics (ling 485).

• Nine credits of electives, chosen in consultation with an advisor in the linguistics minor.
• At least 8 of your minor credits must be applied only to that minor and may not be used to fulfill requirements of the your major, concentration, undergraduate certificate, or another minor.

For more information, contact the linguistics coordinator, Steven Weinberger (weinberg@gmu.edu), 993-1188.