Our program has two sets of requirements determined by when you declared a major in Linguistics. See details below. Why study Linguistics? What’s required to earn a degree? It's all summarized in our major map.

Requirements for Linguistics major on or after Fall 2020

In This Section:

Required Courses

*IMPORTANT* Students who declare as majors in Fall 2020 or after must complete the new major. Students who enter as majors before Fall 2020 have the option to complete the previous major requirements.

The Linguistics program is divided into four components:

• Core courses
• Specialization courses
• Electives
• Language requirement

Program of Study

Core Courses

The required core courses are designed to expose you to the analysis of linguistic data and language acquisition, variation and change.

Specialization Courses

Choose five courses from among the following to focus either on language behavior or on linguistic analysis, on cognitive aspects or on grammar:

• Phonetics (LING 411)
• Semantics (LING415)
• Language and Cognition (LING 416)
• Fieldwork Methods & Ethics (LING 423)
• Morphology and Syntax (LING 435)
• Second Language Acquisition (LING 444)
• Phonology (LING 450)
• Functional Syntax I (LING 451)
• Functional Syntax II (LING 452)
• Historical & Comparative Ling (LING 460)
• Sociolinguistics (LING 491)
• Corpus Linguistics (LING 493)

Electives

In addition to the required courses listed above, you must take two additional classes: one elective (200 level or higher) and a proseminar. You may also replace the elective with another proseminar, as long as seminars are on different topics.

Elective: Any LING class 200 level or higher

Seminar: LING 407 (sometimes it is possible to substitute another 400-level course that has: few students, most readings from primary literature, discussion-oriented class with a rigorous term paper.) Seminars generally have prerequisites, often a subset of the required courses.

See pre-approved non-LING classes.

Second and Third Language Requirement

Linguistics majors must demonstrate proficiency in two languages other than their native language. The second language must be at least equivalent to the end of two years of study (e.g. Arabic 203), the third language must be at least equivalent to the end of one year of study (e.g. Sahaptin 103). Any second language that meets the UO Bachelor of Arts language requirement also meets the Linguistics second language requirement, but as linguists interested in the diversity of languages in the world, we encourage you to study a non-European language, like Sahaptin, Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, or Swahili, or a non-spoken language, such as American Sign Language (ASL). Also, if you study a language that is offered in the summers, we encourage you to try the “immersion” experience: cram a full year of language study into 11 weeks.

Foreign students whose first language is not English should note that the UO BA second language requirement (and therefore the linguistics major second language requirement) can, under specified circumstances, be met with English. (See the UO Academic Policies; scroll down to the “Bachelor of Arts Requirements” for an explanation of the BA second language requirement.)

**Students who wish to pursue a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree must complete the equivalent of one year of college-level work in mathematics in addition to the language requirements stated above. All courses taken must be passed with a grade of C- or higher, or P (pass). Courses used to satisfy the mathematics requirement for the BS degree may not also be used to fulfill the Science (SCI) area requirement.

Program Planning for Major Requirements (Fall 2020 or After)

Students pursuing a bachelor's degree in Linguistics are able to easily tailor their coursework to their individual interest areas by taking advantage of our specialization requirement. The major consists of four required core classes that create a solid foundation in Linguistics; five "specialized" classes that best represent each student's desired focus in Linguistics; one elective course of choice; one seminar course of choice; and languages of choice. Additionally, the Linguistics department offers the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching (SLAT) certificate for students interested in language teaching in the US and abroad.

Students who enter the program as first-years can take the required coursework over three or four years. This allows for a great deal of flexibility in planning so that the student can take advantage of options to pursue a second major, a minor, additional language study, study abroad, etc.

Transfer students and students changing their major to linguistics can complete the degree in linguistics within two years. Since a number of courses are taught only on an annual basis, care must be taken in planning a course of study so that the most efficient sequencing of courses is selected. Planning the program with the help of the undergraduate advisor is essential.

Linguistics Pre-Approved Interdisciplinary Electives

 Note: These are applicable to both the old and new major requirements.

CHN 480 Chinese Linguistics
CHN 481 Pedagogical Grammar of Chinese
CHN 482 History of Chinese Language
EALL 440 Japanese and Korean Phonetics
EALL 441 Japanese and Korean Syntax
EALL 442 Second-Language Acquisition
EALL 443 Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Pedagogy
GLBL 434 Language Issues for International Studies
JPN 315 Introduction to Japanese Linguistics
KRN 315 Introduction to Korean Linguistics
PHIL 425 Philosophy of Language
PSY 440 Psycholinguistics
SPAN 324 Spanish Pronunciation and Phonetics
SPAN 322 Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics
SPAN 420 Spanish Linguistics
SPAN 424 History of Spanish Language
SPAN 428 Spanish in the United States

Seminar:

LING 407 Proseminar
CHN 407 (only if seminar in Chinese linguistics)
EALL 407 (only if seminar in East Asian linguistics)
KRN 407 (only if seminar in Korean linguistics)
JPN 407 (only if seminar in Japanese linguistics)
SPAN 407 (only if seminar in Spanish linguistics)
RL 407 (only if seminar in Romance Language linguistics)

Important note: even if a class is listed here, be sure to confirm with the Director of Undergraduate Studies that the class will count for the proseminar requirement *before* you enroll in the class.

Transfer students and students changing their major to linguistics can complete the degree in linguistics within two years. Since a number of courses are taught only on an annual basis, care must be taken in planning a course of study so that the most efficient sequencing of courses is selected. Planning the program with the help of the undergraduate advisor is essential.

Note: LING 301 is a pre-requisite for LING 411 and LING 435.  If LING 301 cannot be taken summer term prior to beginning the major, special arrangements with the instructor of LING 411 CAN BE made on a case-by-case basis for concurrent enrollment.

The above sample programs assume that the student will fit these courses to the language requirement of the department and the B.A. requirements of the University. A few elective courses in linguistics are also offered during the summer session so that students have the option of further flexibility.