Major/Minor
The Linguistics Department offers two different majors and one minor: Linguistics Major, Linguistics Minor, and Computational Linguistics Major. The Linguistics Major may be modified with another program of study, but the Computational Linguistics Major may not. Because the Computational Linguistics Major is a combination of linguistics and computational coursework, students may not major in both Linguistics and Computational Linguistics, nor is there a minor in Computational Linguistics.
Linguistics Major
Students who pursue a major in linguistics should take ten courses beyond LING 1.
The ten courses for the Linguistics Major should be constituted as follows:
- LING 22
- LING 20 or LING 21
- One course in the 30s (LING 33 or LING 35)
- At least three additional courses numbered in the 20s or 30s, or higher.
- Four more courses in Linguistics, including one that satisfies the requirement for a culminating activity, which may be met in one of three ways:
- Completing a senior Honors Thesis (LING 86 - LING 87)
- Taking an advanced seminar in linguistics (LING 80) in the junior or senior year
- Carrying out a one or two term Independent Study project (LING 85)
- Of the courses not used to satisfy the culminating activity requirement under 5, students may substitute up to two courses from the following, in consultation with an advisor:
- Anthropology 9, Education 58, French 35, French and Italian in Translation 93, Philosophy 6 and 34, and/ or Russian 48.
- Certain courses not listed here, such as advanced seminars in various departments, may also be counted towards the major with permission of the Chair.
- Majors may not include more than two courses designated as LING 11.
- LING 5 and LING 7 do not count towards the LING major.
- Courses counted toward the major may not include both LING 48 and LING 28, if the latter was taken before 2026 Winter. Both LING 48 and LING 28 may be counted toward the major if LING 28 was taken 2026 Winter or thereafter.
For Classes of 2027 and prior, there is a language requirement for the major: Linguistics majors must also take two foreign language courses in addition to courses taken to fulfill the College's foreign language requirement. Each of these two courses must belong to any of the following categories (not necessarily the same category for both): (a) courses beyond the first-year level, not in a language that the student speaks as a first language; (b) first-year courses in a language not closely related to the language used by the student to fulfill the College language requirement; (c) LING 8 and LING 35, with the caveat that a LING 8 or 35 used to fulfill the language requirement may not also be counted as one of the ten courses required for the linguistics major.
For Classes of 2028 and later, this language requirement has been eliminated.