Linguistics is the study of language: old, new, everyday,
special, spoken, or written language. The principal goal of the
Linguistics Program is to train undergraduate students in
Linguistic Theory, Phonetics, and English Language Skills. Since
it is not taught in high school, most undergraduates only
"discover" linguistics after they come to university. Some are
intrigued by the prospect of discovering formal rules to model a
complex form of behavior like language; others are interested in
the relationship of natural languages to other symbolic systems;
still others are curious about similarities and differences they
have noticed among individual languages. In exploring these and
similar topics, students of linguistics not only learn a great
deal about a fascinating field; they also master a variety of
conceptual and empirical techniques that stand them in good
stead after graduation. The Department understands that
undergraduates are interested in linguistics for a variety of
reasons. Some plan to go on to