Requirements for the Major
Honors in the Major
Courses
1168 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706-1557; 608/262-2292; fax 608/265-3193; http://ling.wisc.edu.
Professors Enç (chair), Li, Macaulay, Macken, Valentine; Assistant Professors Lin, Purnell
Undergraduate advisor in the major: Monica Macaulay, mmacaula@wisc.edu. Inquire in 1168 Van Hise Hall for office hours or call 262-2292. All students proposing to major in linguistics must consult the department's undergraduate advisor.
Faculty diversity liaison: Vivian Lin, vilin@wisc.edu.
The linguistics major program can be enriched through linguistics-related courses offered in other departments such as the language departments, the departments of psychology, philosophy, and communicative disorders.
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It investigates the common principles underlying all human languages, as well as the organization of particular languages. It is expected that undergraduates with a major in linguistics will be able to:
30 credits in Department of Linguistics courses.
Language: All majors must complete a fourth semester or higher college-level course in a foreign language, or place out of the fourth semester college course in a foreign language based on UW-Madison language placement scores.
All students must fulfill the L&S requirement of at least 15 credits of upper-level work in the major completed in residence. Linguis 340 and 373; linguistics courses designated "D" (intermediate/advanced) or "A" (advanced); and appropriate courses from other departments defined as "upper level" count toward this requirement (see undergraduate advisor for more information).
Students wishing to take Honors in the Major shall meet with the department honors advisor (Monica Macaulay, mmacaula@wisc.edu) to apply for admission to the major for honors, and discuss a plan of study. This may be done at any time in the student's undergraduate career, provided the requirements below are met.
Students taking Honors in the Major are required to enroll in the thesis seminar for three (honors) credits in each semester of their senior year, leading to submission of an acceptable honors thesis. In addition, honors candidates must take at least two Department of Linguistics courses counting toward the major for honors (see below), and must have a grade point average of 3.5 in the substantive courses taken to satisfy the major requirements.Students must also have an overall GPA of at least 3.3 in all courses taken at UW-Madison at the time of graduation.
Honors credit in any linguistics course may be earned by concurrent enrollment, by consent of instructor, in an honors tutorial for one honors credit. How the tutorial credit is to be earned will be worked out on an individual basis with the professor of the substantive course.
In all other regards, the requirements for Honors in the Major are the same as the undergraduate major requirements, but note that tutorial credits (including the thesis seminars) do not count toward the 30 credits required for the major in linguistics.
All classes listed in the course descriptions section will be offered regularly unless otherwise noted. Please check with the department office for information on specific courses.
101 Human Language. I, II, SS; 3 cr (H-E). Invariant and essential aspects of human language in contrast with the diversity of linguistic forms and behavior; human vs. animal communication, linguistic "sexism', prejudice, social and geographical variation. Language and the human mind. P: Open to Fr. Stdts may not receive cr for both Linguis 101 & 301.
103 Language, History, and Society. II; 3 cr (H-E). Relation of variation and change to formal properties of human language; consideration of linguistic typology, basic concepts and methods of diachronic analysis. Topics include: language classification; language and social identity, geography, power and prestige; language contact; registers; writing systems. P: Open to Fr. Stdts may not receive cr for both 103 & 303.
211 Global Language Issues. (Crosslisted with Anthro, Folklore, Intl St) Irr.; 4 cr (Z-E). A series of modules, each showcasing one language and its culture. Each module tackles a major issue about language, such as extinction and revival, language and nationhood, how widely and deeply languages differ, language and worldview, writing systems and literacy, language discrimination and inequality. P: Open to Fr.
236 Bascom Course. I or II; 3 cr (b-E). A low-enrollment course developing skills in critical reading, logical thinking, use of evidence, and use of library resources. Emphasis on writing in the conventions of specific fields. P: Successful completion of or exemption from Com A requirement. Open to Fr.
299 Directed Study. I, II, SS; 1-4 cr (I). P: Cons inst. Open to Fr.
301 Introduction to Linguistics: Descriptive and Theoretical. (Crosslisted with Anthro) I, II, SS; 3 cr (H-E). Elementary theory and practical work in phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax, with attention to formal grammar. P: Open to Fr. Stdts may not receive cr for both Linguis 101 & 301.
303 Language, History, and Society. II; 3 cr (H-I). Relation of variation and change to formal properties of human language; consideration of linguistic typology, basic concepts and methods of diachronic analysis. Topics include: language classification; language and social identity, geography, power and prestige; language contact; registers; writing systems. P: Stdts may not receive cr for both 103 & 303.
306 General Phonetics. I or II; 3 cr (H-I). Theory of articulatory phonetics; practice in recognition, reproduction, and transcription of speech sounds and features in various languages. P: Linguis 101 or 301 or cons inst.
309 Grammatical Variability of Language. Irr.; 3 cr (H-D). Introduction to theories of variation among world languages, focusing on syntactic phenomena. P: Linguis 101 or 301 or cons inst. Not open to Fr.
310 Phonology. I; 3 cr (H-D). Analysis and formal statement of phonological systems; problems and methods of phonological theory. P: Linguis 101 or 301.
322 Morphology. II; 3 cr (H-D). Morphological characteristics of the world's languages. Introduction to theoretical approaches to morphology. Interaction between morphology and syntax; morphology and phonology. P: Linguis 310.
330 Syntax. I, II; 3 cr (H-D). Grammatical theory; types of elements and processes usable in syntactic description of various sorts. P: Linguis 101 or 301.
340 Semantics. II; 3 cr (H-I). Meaning in natural languages, relationship between syntax and semantics, compositional semantics. P: Linguis 330 or cons inst.
365 Language, Race, and Identity. Irr.; 3 cr (e-Y-E). Relation of culture and genetics to formal properties of human language; consideration of American English dialects and language disorders. Topics include: biological basis of language disorders; racial affiliation and social identity; maintenance of social boundaries; politics of education, speech therapy. P: Open to all Undergrads.
371 Survey of North American Indian Languages. (Crosslisted with Amer Ind) Irr.; 3 cr (e-H-I). Overview of native languages of North America, including topics such as history, distribution, diversity, government policy, language endangerment, elaboration of cultural domains, language and worldview, speech styles, language structure (phonology, morphology, grammatical categories), performance (narrative, song), writing systems.
373 Topics in Linguistics. Irr.; 3 cr (H-I). Topic varies with instructor. May be repeated. P: Cons inst. Open to Fr.
426 Field Methods I. II; 3 cr (H-D). Collection and analysis of phonetic, phonological, and morphological data from a particular language, using one or more speakers as consultants. P: Linguis 310 & 306 or cons inst.
427 Field Methods II. II; 3 cr (H-D). Collection and analysis of morphological, syntactic, and semantic data from a particular language, using one or more speakers as consultants. P: Linguis 310 & either 322 or 330, or cons inst.
430 Language and Culture. (Crosslisted with Anthro, LCA) I or II; 3-4 cr (H-A). The relationship of language as a communication system to the culture transmitted by it. Principle problems in the interrelations of language and nonlinguistic human behavior. P: So st or cons inst.
481 Junior Honors Tutorial. I; 1 cr (D). May be repeated for credit.
482 Junior Honors Tutorial. II; 1 cr (D). May be repeated for credit.
510 Phonological Theories. II; 3 cr (H-A). Theories of phonology, and advanced phonological description. P: Linguis 310.
522 Advanced Morphology. I; 3 cr (H-A). Advanced morphological theory. P: Linguis 322.
530 Syntactic Theories. II; 3 cr (H-D). Theories of syntax, and syntactic description. The relation of syntax to semantics, and other aspects of linguistic theory. P: Linguis 330.
540 Advanced Semantics. I; 3 cr (D). Indexicality, reference and quantification, intensionality, and tense. P: Linguis 340.
561 Introduction to Experimental Phonetics. I or II; 3 cr (H-A). Design and conduct of phonetic experiments; survey of instrumentation and techniques of investigating physiological, physical, and perceptual aspects of linguistic phenomena. Theory of acoustic phonetics. Lectures, demonstrations, lab, readings. P: A phonetics course or cons inst.
562 Advanced Experimental Phonetics. Irr.; 3 cr (H-A). Continuation of 561, with development of lab skills applied to real language problems. Relations of instrumental evidence to phonetic and phonological systems and universals. Statistical and psycholinguistic aspects. Lectures, demonstrations, lab, readings, term project. P: Linguis 310 and 561.
571 Structure of a Language. Irr.; 3 cr (H-A). In-depth study of all components of the grammar of a language. P: Linguis 310 & 330, or cons inst.
583 Senior Honors Tutorial. I; 1 cr (A). May be repeated for credit.
584 Senior Honors Tutorial. II; 1 cr (A). May be repeated for credit.
610 Topics in Phonological Theory. Irr.; 3 cr (A). In-depth examination of a single phonological theory or a single area of recent phonological research. May be repeated for different topics. P: Linguis 510 or Grad st in linguistics or cons inst.
681 Honors Seminar—Senior Thesis. I; 3 cr (A).
682 Honors Seminar—Senior Thesis. II; 3 cr (A). P: Cons inst.
699 Independent Reading. I, II, SS; 1-6 cr (A). P: L&S Undergrads need 2.5, Jr or Sr st & cons inst.