Majoring in Linguistics

Interested in majoring in Linguistics? While the Department of Linguistics does not offer a prescribed undergraduate Linguistics major, students can receive a B.A. degree in Linguistics at UH via the Interdisciplinary Studies Program. Students pursuing this track have the opportunity to create a unique program tailored to their own individual interests. In this program, students create for themselves a “major equivalent,” a coherent program of courses that is academically equivalent to a conventional major, with the guidance of two faculty advisors: one in Linguistics, who helps you select the right courses for your purposes, and the other in Interdisciplinary Studies, who assists with the overall plan for your B.A. To earn a B.A. in Linguistics through Interdisciplinary Studies, you must be enrolled in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences.

While earning a B.A. in Linguistics via the Interdisciplinary Studies Program allows you some flexibility in designing the degree, it will also require greater initiative, as students will need to navigate both the Linguistics Department and the Interdisciplinary Studies Program in parallel. However, the process is fairly straightforward and is described in detail on the Linguistics Department website.

Required Courses

Linguistics core (5 courses; 15 credits):

  • LING 320 General linguistics
  • LING 410 Articulatory phonetics
  • LING 420 Morphology
  • LING 421 Introduction to Phonological Analysis
  • LING 422 Introduction to Grammatical Analysis

Linguistics electives (2 courses; 6 credits):

  • LING 331 Computer Applications
  • LING 344 Languages of the World
  • LING 346 The Philippine Language Family
  • LING 347 Pidgin and Creole Languages
  • LING 412 Psycholinguistics
  • LING 415 Language and Gender
  • LING 416 Language as a Public Concern
  • LING 423 Cognitive Linguistics
  • LING 430 Animal Communication
  • LING 431 Computational Modeling
  • LING 441 Meaning
  • LING 445 Polynesian Language Family
  • LING 451 Induction of Linguistic Structure
  • LING 470 Children’s Speech

Courses in other departments

  • 15 credit hours of course work in two other departments suited to student’s area of interest and post-graduation plans (e.g., anthropology, English, foreign languages, information and computer sciences, music, philosophy, psychology, second language studies, etc.)

How to Apply

Once the student has worked out a plan of study with the Linguistics advisor, they put together a formal proposal which is then submitted to the Interdisciplinary Studies Program. Sample proposals are available in Word and LaTeX formats.

Undergraduate Research

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program provides funding for students to engage in research projects under the mentorship of a UH faculty member. Application deadlines in October and March. Contact the undergraduate advisor for more information.