Linguistics, BA

Location(s): Main Campus

Linguistics - the scientific study of language - is inherently interdisciplinary, and the linguistics program at Binghamton University is designed to reflect this. The program’s subject matter includes topics from the humanities, social sciences, and science and mathematics to provide a foundation in the principles of linguistic theory and methods, as well as a wide variety of cross-disciplinary and sub-disciplinary offerings.

Undergraduate study in linguistics serves as an excellent preparation for graduate and professional study in many fields, including law, anthropology, education and counseling, language pathology, as well as linguistics itself. Students planning to pursue graduate or professional study in any of these areas are strongly advised to keep these plans in mind as they select courses. Students with an interest in graduate work in linguistics, for example, are well advised to study at least two languages other than English; one, a language of scholarship and the other, a non-Western language. Students considering professional training in applied and clinical areas such as language teaching, speech/language pathology and audiology, deaf education or counseling are urged to consult appropriate pre-professional information sources early in their undergraduate career, preferably not later than the beginning of the sophomore year.

Program Requirements

University General Education Requirements

All Binghamton University undergraduate students are required to fulfill this set of university-wide requirements to ensure that every graduate acquires the essential core of a SUNY university undergraduate education. Please refer to the General Education page for more information.

Harpur College Requirements

All students in Harpur College must fulfill additional requirements designated by Harpur College to complement and extend the general education requirements. Please refer to the Harpur College of Arts and Sciences page for more information.

Major Requirements

Prerequisites

The Linguistics major requires intermediate language proficiency in at least one language. Depending on prior exposure to the student’s language of choice, introductory/elementary language courses and intermediate level I and II language courses may be required prerequisites for completion of the major. Students are encouraged to contact their advisors for more information on completing any language requirements for the major.

Course Requirements

Students must fulfill the following requirements for the Linguistics major:

Students are required to take courses in at least two languages, as outlined below:
- One advanced world language course in composition or phonetics or advanced grammatical analysis, presupposing intermediate fluency (the fluency normally attained after four or more semesters of college-level language instruction)
- One upper-level language course (300- level or above) in advanced world language
- Four semesters of college-level instruction (or equivalent) in a different language other than the language used to fulfill the above requirements. Students may also fulfill this requirement with one semester each of four different languages, or any combination adding up to the equivalent of four semesters of college-level language instruction.

LING 118 - Intro To Linguistic Structures (equivalent is ANTH 118 );
24 additional credits in linguistics, at least 16 of which must be at the upper-divisional level (LING 300 or above);

Additional Information About the Program

Note: Depending on prior exposure to the language, introductory/elementary language courses (typically language courses numbered 101 and 102 or 111 and 115) and intermediate level I and II language courses (typically language courses numbered 203 and 204 or 211 and 215) are required prerequisites for completion of the major.

All courses presented in fulfillment of the minimum requirements for the linguistics major must be taken for a letter grade (no Pass/Fail), and the grade received must be a C- or better in order to count toward these requirements. The overall average in courses presented in fulfillment of minimum requirements must be a C or better. Exceptions to any of the above requirements must be requested in writing from the program director, who may grant such requests in extraordinary circumstances.

For more information on the Linguistics BA program, please refer to the Linguistics Department website. To apply to the Linguistics BA program, please visit the University Admissions website.