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• Your advisor
• Requirements
  • Linguistics Core
  • Your track
• Declaring your major
  • Meeting your advisor
  • Four-year plan
• Advisory meetings
• Mailing list
• Double majors and degrees
• Questions

Your advisor

The advisor for undergraduate linguistics majors is Dr. Tonia Bleam (tbleam-at-umd-edu).

Requirements

Linguistics Core

Everyone majoring in Linguistics takes the Linguistics Core. This consists of:

1. Ling 240, Language and Mind

2. Ling 311, Syntax 1

3. Ling 321, Phonology 1

4. Any two of the following courses:

   • Ling312 Syntax 2
   • Ling322 Phonology 2
   • Ling410 Grammar and Meaning
   • Ling330 Historical Linguistics
   • HESP 403 Intro to Phonetics

If you decide to take HESP 403, you should be aware of its official prerequisites; see below and talk to the HESP undergraduate advisor about this if you have any questions.

Officially, Ling 420 is also an option in the "any two of" category. However, because the department does not currently offer this course, we have removed it the list. If you are able to find this course at another college or university, and if it is accepted as an equivalent course and the credits transfer to UMD, it will count in this category.

Choose a track

Every linguistics major must choose one of following two tracks.

1. Grammars and Cognition Track. This track requires 24 credits distributed as follows:

   • Phil 170 or 271 (Logic)
   • Ling 350 (cross-listed as Phil 360) Philosophy of Language
   • Psych 100 Intro to Psych
   • Psych 341 Intro to Memory and Cognition
   • Ling3/4xx (upper level Linguistics elective)
   • Ling3/4xx (upper level Linguistics elective)
   • Elective in Ling, Psych, HESP, Phil, or CMSC

   • Elective in Ling, Psych, HESP, Phil, or CMSC

   • "Electives" from other departments must be approved by your linguistics advisor.
     

2. Language Track. This track requires 24 credits distributed as follows:

   • 15 credits of a single language
   • 3 credits in a course on structure or history of the language.
   • Ling3/4xx (upper level Linguistics elective)
   • Ling3/4xx (upper level Linguistics elective)

These requirements are neatly organized for you as checklists in the following documents:

• Linguistics Roadmap: Grammars and Cognition Track
• Linguistics Roadmap: Language Track

Declaring a major in Linguistics

Meeting with your advisor

To declare linguistics as your major, the first thing you should do is to meet with the linguistics advisor. She will talk to you about your interests and goals, and you and the advisor together will fill out the "declaration of major" form and the "four year plan" form that you will then take to ARHU. After meeting with your ling advisor, you will then need to meet with an ARHU advisor (who will go over general ARHU and University requirements with you) and then you will officially be a major.

In order to make an appointment with your linguistics advisor, send her an email with your name, UID#, the reason for the appointment, and a list of your available times during the week. Do not give just one specific time or day when you are available, because is is likely that the advisor will be unavailable at that time, which will result in more email back and forths. Please remember that your professors' time is limited and make the process as streamlined as possible.

In preparation for the meeting with the ling advisor, you should:

1. Make sure to read over this entire web guide to majoring, and the FAQ page.

2. Read over the linguistics roadmaps and think about which track you would like to do (if you need more information in order to decide, bring your questions to the advising meeting and your advisor can help you).

Completing a 4-year plan

A 4-year plan is a worksheet that is required by ARHU in order to declare your major. It is a way to make sure that you fit in all of the things that you want or need to do (satisfy your major requirements, satisfy CORE, double major, study abroad, take some language courses, etc) before your desired graduation date. In other words, it's a way to make sure that you have a realistic idea about how long it will take you to graduate.

When you meet with your linguistics advisor, she will provide a copy of the worksheet and get you started by filling in the courses for your ling major (in PENCIL!). After that, you can play around with it, filling in other courses that you need or want to take, leaving a semester for study abroad if you want, and things like that. You will then meet with an ARHU advisor who will go over the plan with you again. Both advisors will keep a copy of the plan on file for later reference. You too should keep a copy and revise it as necessary.

When filling in the 4-year-plan, the goal is not to choose every single course for 4 years. The goal is to make sure that every slot on the appropriate Linguistics roadmap shows up somewhere in your 4-year plan, even if you haven't picked the specific course that's going to fill that slot.

Advisory meetings

At several points in your career as a ling major, Testudo will tell you that you have an "advising block" on your registration (this is based on the number of credits you have – see ARHU's page on Mandatory Advising for more information). When you see this (and you should check for this well before registration time every semester), you need to arrange for advising meetings with both your linguistics advisor and your ARHU advisor (if it says that your block is for "department and college advising"). In this meeting, we will take stock of where you are in the major, and talk about your choices for classes in the coming semester and down the road.

You do not have to wait for an advising block to come talk to your linguistics advisor. Any time you would like advice about courses in the coming semester or you want to talk about anything else, feel free to make an appointment and come in for a chat.

You should also feel free to send an email if you have a quick question that you think can be answered easily over email.

In preparation for the meeting with the linguistics advisor, you should:

1. Make sure to read over this entire web guide to majoring, and the FAQ page.

2. Read over the linguistics roadmaps and think about which track you would like to do (if you need more information in order to decide, bring your questions to the advising meeting and your advisor can help you).

3. Look at what courses are offered on Testudo for the coming semester and think about what you would be interested in taking. Come to your advising meeting with a list of the classes that you are planning to take.

4. Write down any questions that you have for your linguistics advisor and bring your questions to the meeting.

Undergraduate mailing list

Linguistics has a mailing list for undergraduates. If you're a Linguistics major, you should make sure to be on the list. If you don't, you're going to miss important announcements.

To subscribe, unsubscribe, or post to the list, go to this Web page.

The Office of Information Technology documentation includes a Basic Guide to Listserv with more information about subscribing, unsubscribing, posting, etc. Those who truly want all the gory details can look at L-Soft's detailed information for Listserv list users.

Double majors and degrees

What is the difference in requirements between a double major and a double degree?

In both cases, you will fulfill all of the requirements for both majors. Declaring a double major is just a matter of going through the regular process of declaring a major in each of the departments that you want to major in. You will need to choose which will be your "primary major" and which will be your "secondary major".

According to the Undergraduate Catalog, a double degree requires 150 credits instead of the normal 120 credits for a single degree. Also, there is a restriction on how many credits may overlap between your two majors if you do a double degree, but not if you do a double major. See the Undergrad Catalog and/or talk to an ARHU advisor for more information.

Some common questions about majoring

• I like learning languages. Should I major in Linguistics?

  If you have a facility for languages, then Linguistics might be a good major for you. However, it's important for you to realize that Linguistics is the scientific study of language, not the study of languages. This means that the focus of the program is on building detailed theoretical models of the mental computations involved in knowing, using, and learning a (first/native) language.

  Majors in Linguistics can choose the "Language Track", which includes significant study of a second language, but everyone in the major needs to do the Linguistics Core, which covers fundamental topics in the science of linguistics such as phonology, syntax, and semantics. See the requirements above.

• How long will it take to do a major in Linguistics?

  We expect it to take a minimum of five semesters. It is unlikely that it would be possible to squeeze a Linguistics major into two years (because of how the classes are sequenced, possible course conflicts or possible difficulty getting into some of the intro courses). Please take this into account when you are deciding whether or not to choose Linguistics as a major.

• Is there a minimum grade I need in order for a course to count for the major?

  Following College policy, a course requires a grade of C or better to count for the major. Note that the same grade requirement holds of prerequisite courses. For example, you must attain a C or better in Ling240 in order to take any further courses in linguistics.

• On the Language Track, can my language be English?

  Well, technically yes. The caveat is that you need to be able to take enough credits in the relevant courses (courses that focus on the English language itself—such as grammar courses—and not literature courses, for example). So far, we have found that this is difficult or impossible to pull off with just the course offerings here on campus. But if you study abraod and are able to take 15 credits on Old or Middle English (for example), then you could do it.

• On the Language Track, can I split my credits among several different languages?

  No. All 18 credits (15 + structure of requirement) must be on the same language. Of course, if you're into being multilingual, nothing stops you from fulfilling the requirements for a single language and also taking classes in other languages.

• On the Language Track, what if the language department doesn't offer a course in the structure or history of the language?

  Talk to your advisor. We can substitute a linguistics course, such as one of the Ling419 advanced undergraduate seminars, for this requirement. In order for the course to count, your research project for the course needs focus on your language (the one you are using for the language track). After talking to your ling advisor and getting "pre-approval" (contingent approval), you should also talk to the instructor of the course at the beginning of the semester to make sure s/he thinks the project will be feasible. Then, at the end of the course, your research project must be submitted to me (the linguistics advisor) before the substitution can be officially approved. (A copy of the paper will be kept in our file for you in our records.)

• Ling240 (Language and Mind) is a prerequisite for Ling311 (Syntax), but can I take them at the same time?

  No. Department policy is that a student must complete Ling240 (with a C or better) prior to taking any other of the Linguistics core courses. This is necessary because it is the gateway to the major and an important prerequisite.

  Note that if you barely scrape by Ling240 with a C or if the course was difficult for you or if you are not enjoying the material in the course, you should rethink being a linguistics major and come to talk to your linguistics advisor about it. The material gets more technical in the advanced classes – so if you did not enjoy Ling 240, it is not likely that you will enjoy Ling 311 or Ling 321.

  On the flip side, if you take Ling240 and find that you love solving phonology problems and drawing tree structures and thinking scientifically about language, then a linguistics major may be just the thing for you!

• Can I use Hon 218L in place of Ling240 whenever Ling240 is required as a prerequisite for a Linguistics course?

  Yes.