Curriculum

Note that the UGA Bulletin is the official source for all degree requirements. In case of any discrepancies between the information here and the Bulletin, the Bulletin takes precedence.

Please take advantage of our Faculty Mentoring Program!

General Education Core Curriculum

It is important to work toward completing the General Education Core Curriculum requirements during the first few years of college, whether at UGA or another institution.

We do not specify any courses for Areas I, II, IV, or V. For Area III, we recommend PHIL 2500(H) or STAT 2000 or STAT 2100H, but these courses are not required; do not worry if you have advanced placement or other credit that already satisfies this area. It is always a good idea to attempt to take courses that simultaneously fulfill Core requirements and your University- or College-wide requirements, whenever possible. This reduces the amount of time spent taking courses that are not directly relevant to your major and make it easier to pursue a double major, if desired. See below for more information.

Core Area VI: Major-Related Courses

1. LING2100 The Study of Language (or LING 2100H or LING 2100E)
2. Competency in a language other than English through the fourth semester of study
3. Competency in another language other than English through the second semester

We recommend that the languages used to satisfy parts (2) and (3) be from different language families (e.g., an Indo-European and a non-Indo-European language, or two different families within Indo-European), but this is not required. Please see the list of languages offered at UGA for more information about language families and potential languages to study.

University and Franklin College Degree Requirements

In addition to completing the UGA Core Curriculum requirements (above), you must satisfy the University-wide degree requirements and Franklin College degree requirements.

A helpful tip: any courses that are used to fulfill major requirements, general electives, or the Core Curriculum may simultaneously satisfy the University or Franklin requirements. Look for courses that do double duty (or ask your advisor) and you will save yourself some time and effort.

LING 2100 The Study of Language can be used to satisfy part of Core Area IV, part of Core Area VI for the Linguistics major, and either the Franklin Fine Arts/Philosophy/Religion requirement or the Franklin Literature requirement.

LING 4015 Language, Race, and Ethnicity in the US satisfies the Franklin Multicultural Requirement and the University Cultural Diversity Requirement

LING 4880 Introduction to Language Documentation and Field Methods satisfies the Experiential Learning Requirement.

LING 4945 Internship in Teaching Linguistics and all research courses (LING 4960R, 4970R, 4980R, 4990R) satisfy the Experiential Learning Requirement

Major requirements: 8 courses (24 credit hours)

NEW!! There are new requirements for the major, which will go into effect in August 2025 and will apply to all student who declare a major after that date. Students who have already declared the Linguistics major may switch to the new requirements if desired; just let your undergraduate coordinator or advisor know. If you wish to remain under the current requirements, no action is necessary. Follow the link below for more information.

NEW MAJOR REQUIREMENTS (AUGUST 2025) 

Major requirements consist of two courses that are required for all students, two courses selected from Area I, two courses selected from Area II, and two major elective courses.

Most of our 4000-level courses are cross-listed with graduate courses at the 6000-level. Undergraduates should sign up for the 4000-level, unless you are an Honors student or have been admitted to the dual A.B./M.A. (Double Dawgs) degree program. Graduate or undergraduate students registered at the 6000-level have to complete additional requirements in the course, which typically involve additional readings, more challenging assignments, in-class presentations, and a final paper.

Required courses

 

• LING 3060 Phonetics and Phonology
• LING 3150 or LING 3150W Generative Syntax

Note: These courses are prerequisites for most of the other 3000/4000-level courses and should be taken as soon as possible after completion of LING 2100 and declaration of the major.

Area I

Choose 2 courses from the following list:

• LING(CMSD) 3120 Language Development or LING 4175/6175 Second Language Acquisition or LLED 5730/7730 L1 and L2 Acquisition and Development
• LING 3160 or LING 3160W Advanced Generative Syntax
• LING 3250 Morphology
• LING 3350 Language, Mind, and Brain
• LING 3830 Languages of the World
• LING 4022/6022 Advanced Phonetics and Phonology
• LING 4105/6105 Psycholinguistics
• LING 4160/6160 Semantics
• LING 4400/6400 Quantitative Methods
• LING 4530/6530 A Finite-State Introduction to Computational Linguistics or LING 4570/6570 Natural Language Processing
• LING 4720/6720 Language Typology and Linguistic Universals

Area II

Choose 2 courses from the following list:

• LING 3850 Language, Politics, and Identity
• LING 4015/6015 Language, Race, and Ethnicity in the US
• LING(ENGL) 4080 Language Variation and the Linguistics of Speech
• LING (CLAS) 4211/6211 Intro to Indo-European Studies
• LING(ENGL) 4886 Text and Corpus Analysis
• LING 4690/6690 Historical Linguistics
• LING 4710/6710 Languages in Contact
• LING(CMLT) 4740/6740 Discourse Analysis
• LING 4770/6770 Historical Sociolinguistics
• LING 4860/6860 Sociolinguistics
• LING(CMLT) 4870/6870 Language, Gender, and Sexuality
• LING 4880/6880 Introduction to Language Documentation and Field Methods

Major Electives

Choose any 2 additional LING courses (6 hours) at the 3000/4000-level, which may include no more than 3 hours of directed study/research/internship courses (LING 3990, LING 4945, LING 4960R, LING 4970R, LING 4980R, LING 4990R).

additional guidance for students

If you are interested in pursuing a graduate degree in Linguistics or a related field, you are strongly encouraged to take a course that will help you develop research skills, in particular:

• LING 4400/6400 Quantitative Methods
• LING 4410/6510 Experimental Methods in Linguistics
• LING 4880/6880 Introduction to Language Documentation and Field Methods
• LING 4886/6886 Text and Corpus Analysis

Students interested in graduate study should also consider taking additional linguistics courses beyond the minimum number required for the A.B. degree. A stronger background in Linguistics will make your application more competitive, and will benefit you after you are admitted to a graduate degree program. If you have questions about graduate school, you can speak with the Undergraduate Coordinator (Dr. Langston) or your faculty mentor.

If you are interested in computational linguistics, you should take some programming courses, such as CSCI 1300-1300L Introduction to Programming with Python, which can also be used to satisfy Core Area III or LING 2200 Python Programming for Language and Linguistics. LING 4530/6530 is also intended as an introductory course to computational linguistics, which does not require any prior knowledge of programming, but a course in programming (or equivalent experience) is strongly recommended before taking LING 4570/6570 Natural Language Processing.

You may also want to consider one of the Double Dawgs programs that are open to Linguistics majors. In addition to the Double Dawgs A.B./M.A. in Linguistics, students who are interested in teaching English to speakers of other languages can pursue an A.B. in Linguistics/M.A.T. in TESOL.

 

Updated: 7/09/2023