Getting Started
Last updated: Spring 2024
College: HFA
Information below is meant to guide first year students in getting started with this major and choosing appropriate courses. More advanced students interested in this major would also likely start with proposed foundation/pre-requisite courses. Please refer to the Majors page located in the left menu bar to learn about the full major requirements.
How to Explore the Major
Suggested General Education Courses
All Undergraduates are required to satisfy the General Education Requirements. Guidelines for students are available athttps://www.umass.edu/gened. Students should choose a wide variety of Gen Ed courses, providing breadth of experience. Students interested in General Education courses related to linguistics may consider the following:
Courses offered by the Linguistics department:
LINGUIST 101 People and their Language (DU, SB)
LINGUIST 150: Language through Time (HS)
LINGUIST 201: How Language Works: Intro to Linguistic Theory (R2)
GenEd courses related to linguistics offered by other departments:
ANTHRO 105: Language, Culture and Communication (DG, SB)
PHYS 114: Theory of Sound with Applications to Speech and Hearing Science (PS)
SLHS 100: Intro to Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences (DU/SB)
SPANISH 382: Spanish in the US (DU/SB). Note: course readings are in Spanish.
SPANISH 471: Linguistic Varieties and Pluralism (DG/SB). Prereq: SPANISH 240/246
How to Declare the Major
Linguistics/joint linguistics majors are unrestricted, which means any student may declare the majors. Students declare a linguistics major by filling out the Google form linked from the Linguistics departmental undergraduate program Majors and Requirements webpage.
Students should declare the major by the first semester of their junior year at the latest. A grade of "A" in LINGUIST 201 is highly desirable. All students are urged to meet with an undergraduate advisor in Linguistics to plan their program.
Summary of Requirements for the Major
Minimum total # of credits required: 36 (or more depending on major focus)
Students must earn a cumulative GPA of at least 2.0 in the major.
Linguistics offers a “pure” major and nine interdisciplinary majors in which the study of linguistics forms a significant part of the curriculum. The pure major includes a six-credit cross-linguistic grammar requirement. The joint majors combine Linguistics with Anthropology, Chinese, German, Japanese, Philosophy, Portuguese, Psychology, Russian, or Spanish. All majors require a certain number of central linguistics courses, and these are combined with courses from the other discipline in the joint majors.
In addition, all majors must satisfy the HFA foreign language requirement and the Junior Year Writing and Integrative Experience requirements. Joint majors may satisfy the Junior Year Writing and Integrative Experience requirements in either department. Students interested in any of these majors should see their advisor in Linguistics to plan their program.
Refer to the Major Page located in the left menu bar to learn more.
For interdisciplinary majors combining Linguistics and another discipline beyond those listed above, students should see their advisor in Linguistics to plan a major through the BDIC Program.
Is there a minor?
Yes. A total of five courses (15 credits) comprise the minor. Refer to the Minor page located in the left menu bar to learn more.
For further information, contact:
Prof. Magda Oiry
N416 Integrative Learning Center
(413) 545-6826
moiry@linguist.umass.edu
Prof. Kristine Yu
N422 Integrative Learning Center
(413) 545-6830
krisyu@linguist.umass.edu
Prof. Brian Dillon
N436 Integrative Learning Center
(413) 577-4198
brian@linguist.umass.edu
www.umass.edu/linguistics/undergraduate-program