Undergraduate Program

Linguistics is an interdisciplinary program whose faculty are based in many departments in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and in the College of Education. Its undergraduate curriculum is designed to offer students the opportunity to learn about the many different ways that human language can be studied. Linguistics is not the same as the study of many different languages, although exposure to several languages is required in Area F of the Core requirements for the major. Foundation courses teach basic concepts about speech sounds, words, and their arrangement into meaningful patterns. Linguistics at UGA offers four areas of focus: Second Language Acquisition, Language Theory, Historical Linguistics, and Language Variation and Sociolinguistics. Majors and minors must take two foundation courses, and then will select other courses to gain experience in various linguistic subfields and to pursue their own interests.

Career opportunities

While there are no jobs waiting for Linguistics majors as there might be for engineers or nurses, employers do value the Linguistics major. Exposure to languages promises communication skills, and the technical aspects of the study of language suggest that majors will be able to cope with technical materials; technical writing is one field in which Linguistics majors are likely to find employment. Students with extensive computer training will find that Linguistics may offer them an edge for jobs in the expanding field of natural language processing and artificial intelligence. For those students who wish to continue their studies, the Linguistics major can provide a good foundation for professional programs or for graduate programs in Anthropology, Cognitive Sciences, English or another modern language, Psychology, and other fields besides Linguistics itself.

Declaring a major or minor in linguistics

Students may declare a major or minor in Linguistics by filling out the appropriate forms in the Franklin College Advising Office (New College).

Linguistics Club

There is a student-run Linguistics Club to which both graduate students and undergraduates can belong. It is a great way for students with similar interests and who take many classes together can meet informally. The Linguistics Club sponsors lectures and other activities each academic year.