Linguistics is the study of human
language
and how it works as a system. Linguistics
is fascinating because
understanding how language works also
means understanding how
being human work.s If you think about it,
we do almost everything with language.
We order coffee, we create internet memes, we build
our relationships,
we signal our identities, we text our
friends, we write
great works of literature, and we sell
things or ideas.
Language does all that shaping our lived
realities and shaping how we feel and
how we think.
Doing linguistics presupposes a general
interest in language
and in knowing other languages. As you
begin to study a language
very different from your own, you'll also
realize just how your own language works
as a system. This structural knowledge
will go far beyond simple grammar rules
you might have learned in school
like don't split the infinitives.
Linguistics isn't learning a language
but learning about language
and as a linguist you'll be able to
uncover the hidden rules that make
languages work.
Ask yourself what are sentences actually
made of.
What's systematic about word sounds and word formation? How do words actually
mean what they do
and why do we even use emojis? How does
language processing work
neurologically and does linguistic
diversity reflect
social diversity? Is there even such a
thing as
standard language and what are dialects
anyway and why does language change over time?
How do children learn their first
languages and
how the heck are you going to learn a
second one and what makes for effective
language teaching?
If you're interested in any of these
questions, then linguistics is for you.
Linguistics naturally overlaps with many
other academic fields.
It's a great major by itself but it also
complements things like anthropology,
sociology, education, literature, foreign
language,
and even majors like neuroscience and
computer engineering.
Linguistics also reaches across national
and cultural boundaries.
Our faculty, their research areas and the
languages they study, reflect this
in our program. We work on a host of
different languages both indo-european
and non-indo-european.
We also work on different subfields in
linguistics such as studying speech
sounds, the structure of words and sentences, how
meaning works,
how people interact with one another, how
languages are processed in the brain,
and how language is used in social
contexts. We study language learning over time
or how second languages can be best
taught in classrooms.
Students in our program learn about the
many subsystems of language
and how they relate to one another They
learn about research methodology,
about how to implement ethical research
protocols,
how to analyze data, how to work with
different languages,
and how to use different linguistic
transcription systems.
Many write research proposals and pursue them in the near future.
Others conduct actual research projects
and publish their results
during their time in our program.
Our program has lots of opportunities
for students and faculty to engage with
one another.
For example, our monthly pizza lunches
where students and faculty come together to talk about linguistics. We also
organize an invited speaker series
where linguists from outside of UT
present their research from various
linguistic sub-disciplines.
The student linguistics association
brings students in the major together
for both social and academic events.
Students who are interested in research
can get directly involved with faculty
members
through independent studies and present
the research findings at eureka,
UT's own research symposium.
Linguistic is useful in any field in which
language communication is important.
For example, linguistics informs your job
as a language teacher
whether you are teaching English as a
second language or a foreign language
linguist can also greatly enhance your
work in public relations
because knowing about language helps to promote your ideas and products.
Our graduates have entered a variety of
language-related and applied professional
fields like translation, language education,
speech therapy, journalism,
and publishing. Some of graduates pursue
a graduate degree in linguistics
often combining with a specific language
like a French or Japanese
or with another major like a Psychology
or cognitive science. If you further your studies in
computational linguistics working on
machine translation or speech
recognition you never know maybe you will program
the next Siri or Alexa.
Almost everyone feels they know
something about language and is prepared
to argue about what they feel is right
about it.
However as a trained linguist, you'll
belong to a group of people who actually
know how language works on a deeper
level
and you'll know about current theories
and applied research on human language.
This knowledge can be its own reward and may motivate you to do your own
linguistic research.
It can also be applied to a great
variety of professional fields.
Overall the linguistics program offers
an interdisciplinary and diverse
learning experience
equipping you with valuable skills.
Contact our program
if you have questions. We are here to
work with you every step of the way.
