Why study Linguistics?
Language is a cognitive ability that is unique to humans. It can be studied on its own to better understand the complexity of the human mind and brain, or in conjunction with other fields to better understand how language plays a pivotal role in all human achievements.
The Linguistic Society of America (the professional society for linguists in the US) maintains a several webpages discussing the ways that Linguistics degrees can be used for careers after college: What is Linguistics?”
The two joint majors
There are two ways to major in linguistics at UConn. They both involve studying language in depth across its many facets, and therefore overlap in substantive ways. But they each allow students to focus a bit more on certain aspects of language. You can read the requirements for both in the entry in the current course catalog
The Linguistics and Psychology Major
The Linguistics and Psychology major is offered in conjunction with the Psychological Sciences department. It is designed for students who wish to focus on language as a cognitive system in the human mind, and explore the ways experimental research can reveal the complexity of human cognition.
Plan of Study: fillable pdf or word doc
The Linguistics and Philosophy Major
The Linguistics and Philosophy major is offered in conjunction with the Philosophy department. It is designed for students who wish to focus on language as a logical system that gives rise to meaning, and explore the ways that analytic methods can reveal the complexity of human cognition.
Plan of Study: fillable pdf or word doc
Major Related Courses
There is no pre-approved list of related courses. All related courses must be approved by the undergraduate advisor. To ask if a course would be approved, send the course number and name to the undergraduate advisor, along with a brief description of how the course content relates to language or linguistics (one or two sentences). Final approval is granted when you apply for graduation at the beginning of your final semester (see here).
The Linguistics Minor
The linguistics minor is designed for students who wish to add a deeper investigation of the properties of human language to their major. Given the central role of language in all human endeavors, it pairs well with almost any major.
Plan of Study: fillable pdf or word doc
The Cognitive Science Major and Minor
Linguistics is a cognitive science. Courses from the Linguistics department contribute to the cognitive science major.
Advising
For questions about the majors or major related courses, please contact the major advisor for linguistics. Currently, that is Prof. Harry van der Hulst.
For questions about general education requirements, please contact a CLAS advisor through the CLAS advising website: advising.clas.uconn.edu.
Declaring Linguistics as a major or minor
You can declare Linguistics as your major or minor by using the CLAS website for declaring majors and minors: declare.clas.uconn.edu.