Linguistics

Requirements

Admission to the Major

After passing Linguistics 211 and Linguistics 212 (or equivalent courses), the prospective linguistics major must present a plan of study to the department for approval.

Requirements for the Major

  1. Linguistics 211 and Linguistics 212.
  2. Five additional courses in linguistics (or cross-listed in linguistics).
  3. Competence in two languages other than English, equivalent to at least second-year college-level proficiency in one language, and at least first-year college-level proficiency in the second. (Students may demonstrate competence through Reed coursework, coursework completed elsewhere for transfer credit, placement exams, or some combination of these).
  4. A total of four semester units in an allied field, none of which can be used to fulfill 1, 2, or 3 above. Some representative examples are: a) Anthropology 211 plus three upper-division anthropology courses (including linguistics courses cross-listed with anthropology); b) four courses in psychology, including the introductory courses; c) four courses from the Division of Literature and Languages; d) four courses in mathematics; e) four courses in philosophy. Other choices of allied field are also acceptable, as appropriate to the student’s needs and interests, and subject to the approval of the department.
  5. A junior qualifying examination in linguistic analysis, to be attempted after taking no fewer than five units of linguistics. An element of the examination will be a thesis proposal.
  6. Linguistics 470 (thesis), which may, as appropriate, be jointly supervised by faculty members from linguistics and an allied field.

Recommended:

  1. Further courses in the allied field and in linguistics.
  2. At least one classical language or one non-Indo-European language as part of, or in addition to, the language requirement above. Additionally, more advanced competence in the languages used to meet that requirement.
  3. Courses in anthropology, psychology, literature, and/or philosophy, in addition to courses in the student’s chosen allied field, if it is not one of these. Students’ attention is particularly drawn to those courses dealing with poetry, prose style, and the grammars of individual languages, both modern and classical, in the Division of Literature and Languages; courses on logic and the philosophy of language; and courses on human cognition, mental representations, and psycholinguistics.

Group and Division Applicability

Of the courses described here, the following courses may be counted toward the Group D requirement: 211, 296, 312, 320, 321, 323, 324, 326, 328, 329, 334, 336, 338, 341, 344, 348, 352, 354 and 393. The following courses may be counted toward the Group B requirement: 212, 232, 296, 312, 313, 334, 335, 348, 393, 395, 411, 430, and 439. (Note that 211 and 212 cannot be taken together to fulfill a single group requirement).

If taken as anthropology courses, the following courses count toward divisional requirements in history and social sciences: 312, 313, 334, 348, and 411.