Linguistics Degrees and Requirements

Home Undergraduate Program Linguistics Degrees and Requirements

Successful completion of the linguistics major leads to a BA degree in linguistics. The department also offers a minor in linguistics. Requirements for the completion of each program may be found below.

The Linguistics Major

To graduate with a BA in linguistics, students must complete twelve courses in linguistics and related disciplines (eight required and four elective) and also satisfy the senior exit requirement. In addition, students must demonstrate either foreign language or mathematics competency.

Courses: Students must complete the following required courses:

• Introduction to Linguistics (LING 50)
• Syntax I (LING 52) (foundation)
• Semantics I (LING 53) (foundation)
• Phonology I (LING 101) (foundation)
• Phonology II (LING 102) (advanced)
• Syntax II (LING 113) (advanced)
• Semantics II (LING 116) (advanced)

In addition, students must complete five elective courses. The normal expectation is that these will be chosen from among the following:

• Morphology (LING 105)
• Poetry and Language (LING 108)
• Syntax III (LING 114)
• Pragmatics (LING 117)
• Structure of English (LING 120)
• Foundations of Linguistic Theory (LING 125)
• Language Change (LING 140)
• Phonetics II (Phonetic Analysis) (LING 151)
• Topics in Computational Linguistics (LING 160)
• Structure of Romance Languages (LING 181)
• Structure of Spanish (LING 182)
• Structure of French (LING 183)
• Structure of German (LING 186)
• Structure of Japanese (LING 187)

The linguistics major provides a strong background in the central subdisciplines of linguistics through the foundation and advanced courses, which all linguistics majors must complete. For the elective requirement, students who wish to pursue linguistic theory further are encouraged to take morphology and pragmatics, and/or seek permission to enroll in the graduate core sequence in phonology, syntax, or semantics.

Senior Exit Requirement: All students at UCSC must satisfy a Senior Exit Requirement in order to graduate. Linguistics majors can satisfy this requirement in one of two ways:

Option 1: Successful completion of a capstone course. Students designate one appropriate upper division Linguistics course as their capstone course. In addition to fulfilling the normal requirements for the capstone course, such students (who must be seniors, and have completed Ling 52 and 101) concurrently enroll in Ling 190 (Senior Research, two credits, enrollment limited to 10) and under the guidance of the instructor of the capstone course produce a research paper.

Option 2: Successful completion of a senior thesis supervised by a Linguistics faculty member. The proposal for a senior thesis must be submitted for department approval at least one year prior to the quarter of graduation, and students should begin talking to the relevant faculty member well in advance. Students must have done very good to excellent work in courses in the major to be approved for this option. Students taking this option enroll in Ling 195 (Senior Thesis) with the faculty advisor as instructor.

Foreign Language/Mathematics Competency: Linguistics majors must demonstrate either foreign language or mathematics competency:

• Foreign language competency: students must successfully complete six quarters of language study at UCSC or demonstrate an equivalent level of competence through a recognized language test, such as a placement exam offered by the Language Program, or evidence of credit from another institution.
• Mathematics competency: alternatively, students with a strong formal background can choose to satisfy the mathematics competency requirement by demonstrating sufficient preparation in mathematics for advanced work in linguistics. This requirement is satisfied by passing two courses chosen from the following list: MATH 11A (Calculus with Applications), MATH 19A (Calculus for Science, Engineering, and Mathematics), or MATH 21 (Linear Algebra); CMPS 12A (Introduction to Programming); CMPE 16 (Applied Discrete Mathematics); ECON 11A (Mathematical Methods for Economics); or any course which has one of these courses as a prerequisite.

The Linguistics Minor

A minor in linguistics may be advantageous to students majoring in psychology, anthropology, computer and information sciences, and other fields, who intend to go on to graduate work or certain specializations. To graduate with a minor in linguistics, students must complete eight courses: Introduction to Linguistics (LING 50), Phonology I (LING 101), Syntax I (LING 52) or Syntactic Structures (LING 55), Semantics I (LING 53), and four additional upper division courses in linguistics (or approved substitutes). There is no foreign language/mathematics requirement or senior exit requirement for the minor.