Undergraduate Program Resources
The linguistics department offers several options for majoring and minoring in linguistics. To declare a major or minor, see the Majors and Requirements page. For general questions about the undergraduate program, e-mail the Undergraduate Program Director at this e-mail address. Email our Minors Advisor for questions about the minor.
The CHFA career center is the place to get general career advice, and they are also able to help you find a career that draws on the talents and knowledge that you develop in linguistics. They have resources on their web page and also have drop-in hours and one-hour appointments.
Some other useful links include:
- All Things Linguistics/SuperLinguo interviews with people in different careers with linguistics training (scroll down to the bottom to get right to the interviews)
- Linguistics Career Launch (a Special Interest Group of the Linguistic Society of America)
- Hadas Kotek's write-ups about "alt-ac" jobs, including deciphering job titles relevant for linguists
Career opportunities in linguistics
In the past, the study of linguistics was focused on preparation for a PhD and a career as a college professor. But recent developments have brought radical changes to the employment environment for linguists. New companies and new products appear every day that call upon the skills of linguists. People trained in linguistics are now involved in enterprises like these:
- documenting endangered languages such as with the Rosetta Project;
- working in the field of law. (Larry Solan, who earned a PhD from UMass in linguistics, is willing to advise Linguistics majors interested in law);
- creating machines capable of reading aloud to the blind;
- development of computer programs for "speech recognition"—turning spoken language into typed text, taking plane reservations over the phone, and so on;
- developing software to translate webpages or other documents from one language to another;
- giving new products names that have the right positive associations. (Linguists are responsible for the name of the Cadillac Catera for instance);
- creating new tests of language and reading skills;
- teaching English in Japan; and,
- joining the Peace Corps.
With its broad interdisciplinary connections and international outlook, the field of linguistics is well-situated to prepare students for the evolving global marketplace. Just take a look at an online list of job opportunities for linguists with various kinds of expertise and different levels of training.
More broadly, the study of linguistics cultivates certain qualities of thought—careful observation, analytic reasoning, logic, hypothesis development, and testing—that can be applied in many other fields, such as law, business, and teaching.