Department of Linguistics

LING 001-Introduction to Language

The Linguistics Department offers a major in Linguistics, a minor in Linguistics, and five-year Accelerated Bachelor/Master's programs.. It also participates in the Interdisciplinary Minor in Cognitive Science, allowing students to combine the study of language with the broader study of the human mind.  There are currently approximately 80 students majoring in Linguistics.

The Linguistics curriculum is designed to help Linguistics majors achieve a rigorous set of learning goals.  Each course in the curriculum addresses a subset of these goals.

Linguistics Majors and Minors. Linguistics majors must satisfy the degree requirements in the College Bulletin of the year in which they formally declared the Linguistics major. The Linguistics Department ratified a new curriculum beginning in Fall 2010.

Students who declared the Linguistics major or minor before July 2010 must satisfy the following degree requirements: Linguistics major and minor requirements 2007-2010 (recent Undergraduate Bulletin to be posted soon).  These continuing Linguistics majors and minors may choose certain requirement options during the transition between curricula, depending on course scheduling.

Students who declare the Linguistics major or minor after July 2010 must satisfy the the following degree requirements: Linguistics major and minor requirements 2010.  A variety of ‘Paths through the Linguistics Major’ are offered to assist Linguistics majors plan their course of study. Specializations in Sound, Grammatical Analysis, Applied Linguistics and Sociolinguistics are possible.

Senior Honors Thesis. Third-year Linguistics majors with cumulative 3.5 GPAs may be invited to write an Honors Thesis in their senior year, pending approval of a preliminary proposal.

General Education Social Science Requirement. Courses in Linguistics also satisfy the social science general education requirement for undergraduates in Georgetown College. Dr. Elizabeth Zsiga, Director of Undergraduate Studies, is happy to answer questions about our undergraduate programs and direct you to other linguistics faculty whose interests may closely match your own. The excellent academic counselors of the Faculty of Language and Linguistics are also at your service: Sue Lorenson and Tad Howard.

Georgetown Undergraduate Resources

Georgetown Undergraduate Linguistics Society
Office of Undergraduate Admission
Undergraduate Bulletin
Student Access+
Blackboard
Current Students