The small scale of the Linguistics major ensures close peer relationships and extensive interaction with faculty members, many of whom actively听engage students in their research.听There are currently about 130 students taking a Major or Minor in Linguistics.听The most dedicated and talented students may elect to enter the five-year joint BA/MA degree in Linguistics or to pursue an Honors thesis.Why CU Linguistics?
Language is something that we have and something that we do. It is a fundamental part of the human experience and indispensible to human progress.听Language is a cultural and interactive tool and it is also a major part of the way we think and reason. 听To study the language faculty requires you to study everything from the way we form sounds and听gestures, to the way we perceive speech, to the meanings that language expresses,听to the use of language as a signal of group identity. All of these topics are encompassed by coursework in the major.听The Linguistics department gives its majors the experience of an academic neighborhood鈥攕omething that few other CU departments can do. At present, there are about 130 students working toward a Major or Minor degree in Linguistics at CU Boulder. Because of the small scale of the major and a faculty dedicated to teaching excellence, Linguistics majors can interact extensively with peers and instructors both inside and outside the classroom.
Because the Linguistics major has relatively few course requirements (27 credits in Linguistics plus 5 credits of a natural language other than English), it can easily be combined with electives, a minor or a double major in another field that interests you. Among the areas of study that you can insightfully integrate with linguistics are: Anthropology, International Affairs, Communication, Theatre, Speech, Language and Hearing Science, Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Education, modern languages, Philosophy, Classics and Sociology.