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Academics

Undergraduate Program

Overview

Program of Study

For students pursuing a B.A. degree, the Linguistics department offers several options for majoring and minoring in Linguistics, as well as innovative general education courses. A Linguistics major can focus purely on linguistics, or combine Linguistics with another field or language. There are several interdisciplinary majors in which the study of Linguistics forms a significant part of the curriculum. It is also possible to major in linguistics alone or to minor in linguistics. If you would like to declare a major or minor in Linguistics, please visit the How to Declare webpage. If you have questions about a Linguistics major, please contact our current Undegraduate Program Director. If you have questions about minoring in linguistics, please contact our current Minors Advisor, Magda Oiry.

Certificate in American English Linguistics

The Linguistics Department offers a 15-credit Certificate in American English Linguistics to students who complete a program of courses focused on the structure, usage, and dialects of American English. This Certificate is open to anyone, regardless of whether they have been admitted to a degree program at UMass Amherst. The requirements can be completed entirely in the classroom or with a combination of online and classroom courses. For more information, click here.

Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

A 15-credit Certificate in Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages is offered by the Linguistics Department, in collaboration with the ESL Program and the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.  This Certificate is intended to provide students with the foundation in linguistics and language teaching that they need to succeed as an English language teacher. It can serve as preparation for teaching English abroad, or for teaching outside the public school system here in the US (it does not provide certification or licensure for teaching in the K-12 context). A full description with requirements can be found at this web page: https://www.umass.edu/linguistics/certificate-teaching-english-speakers-other-languages. For further information, contact the Linguistics certificate coordinator, Magda Oiry.

Other Minors and Certificates

Choosing an interesting minor or acquiring a certificate of specialization helps with life after graduation. Here is the link for the minors and certificates that are offered at UMass. Some choices of minors that might be interesting in combination with linguistics:

Certificates and Letters 

African Studies (Five College), Asian and Asian American Studies, Criminal Justice, International Relations, Interpreter's Studies, Latin American Studies, Middle Eastern Studies (Five College), Native American Indian Studies, Public Policy and Administration, Social Research and Analysis.

Minors 
Afro-American Studies, Anthropology, Arabic Language, Chinese, Computer Science, English, Food Science, French and Francophone Studies, German, Greek, Hebrew, Information Technology, Italian Studies, Japanese, Judaic Studies, Latin, Latin American Studies, Mathematics, Middle Eastern Studies, Modern European Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Portuguese, Psychology, Russian and East European Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish.

Letters of Specialization 
Criminal Justice (Sociology), Developmental Disabilities and Human Services (Psychology), Marketing Information Technology (Marketing), Social Research and Analysis (Sociology).

Other Non-major Programs 
Several departments regularly offer courses at the elementary and intermediate levels in other languages (Danish, Dutch, Polish, Swedish, Yiddish).