Undergraduate Study in Linguistics
Linguistics is the systematic study of human language. It focuses on theories of language structure, variation, and use, description of contemporary languages, and the examination of language change through time. Because of the pervasive influence of language in our everyday lives, work in linguistics interacts in important ways with studies carried out in many other fields, including psychology, anthropology, neuroscience, philosophy, computer science, sociology, literature, language teaching, communication, and education. Majors in linguistics find practical outlets for their linguistic training in the computer science industry, in teaching English as a second language, in foreign language teaching in elementary and secondary level bilingual-bicultural programs, in missionary work, in bilingual-bicultural curriculum development (for example, in publishing houses), in legal work, in speech therapy, and in lexicography. All these types of employment share an interest in persons skilled in the analysis of language, spoken and/or written. Linguistics equips its students with just such skills.
WECOL 2008 to be held at UC Davis