Majors and Requirements

How to declare a major, joint major, or minor in linguistics

The Department of Linguistics offers a linguistics major, a minor, and several interdisciplinary "joint" majors in which the study of linguistics forms a significant part of the curriculum. To declare a major or joint major in linguistics fill out the major declaration form (you will need to be signed into your UMass account to access the form). To declare a minor in linguistics, contact the current Minors Advisor, Magda Oiry.

Undergraduate Program Resources

For students pursuing a bachelor's degree, the linguistics department offers several options for majoring and minoring in linguistics, as well as innovative general education courses.

Majors and Requirements Majors and Requirements Linguistics Minor Linguistics Minor Exchanges, Study Abroad, and Summer Programs Exchanges, Study Abroad, Summer Programs Fellowships Fellowships Career Opportunities Career Opportunities

Major and joint major requirements

Linguistics ("straight" major)

Computational Linguistics (not yet approved, but we hope it will be approved in time to be available officially for current students in Fall 2024)

Linguistics and German

Linguistics and Japanese

Linguistics and Philosophy

Linguistics and Portuguese

Linguistics and Psychology

Linguistics and Spanish

 

Note: we cannot offer Linguistics and Anthropology or Linguistics and Chinese joint majors any more, as of Fall 2023, due to the unavailability of course offerings in Anthropology and Chinese.   Students interested in these joint majors should consult with advisors and consider double majoring or majoring in one field and minoring in the other.

Junior Year Writing requirement

The Junior Year Writing (JYW) requirement is met by taking LINGUIST 305 (which is currently offered every semester) or LINGUIST 350 (sporadically offered).  The JYW requirement does not need to be satisfied in your junior year. 

Integrative Experience requirement

See major requirements for the individual majors for courses that satisfy the Integrative Experience (IE) requirement. 

IE courses offered in linguistics include:

  • LING 389 (Intro to African American English, offered semi-regularly)
  • LING 394BIE (Language and Cognition, currently offered every Spring semester)
  • LING 404 (Field Methods, offered semi-regularly)
  • LING 412 (Language Processing and the Brain, currently offered every Fall semester)