Linguistics and Philosophy

Linguistics and Philosophy BA

The major combines the basic courses of the general linguistics program with that of philosophy, for students who are reflective about their beliefs or who wish to become so. Students enrich their knowledge about the nature, grammar, and history of human language, and are given the opportunity to ponder the foundations of almost any other subject to which they are exposed — whether history, religion, government, law, or science.

The Linguistics and Philosophy major has the following learning outcomes:

• Ability to apply critical thinking skills through linguistic data analysis in phonetics, phonology, syntax, and at least one other subfield
• Understanding of advanced theoretical concepts and/or analytical techniques in at least one subfield
• Ability to write technical material in linguistics, including language description and theory-based analysis
• Ability to access scholarly literature on language structure and use it in research

Required: Linguistics 20, Philosophy 31, and two courses from 1, 6, 7, 21, completion of the equivalent of the sixth term of one foreign language and the third term of a second foreign language.

Transfer applicants to the Linguistics and Philosophy major with 90 or more units must complete as many of the following introductory courses as possible prior to admission to UCLA: one introduction to linguistics course, one symbolic logic course and two courses from Western philosophy, political philosophy, philosophy of mind, or skepticism and rationality, and two years of one foreign language and one year of a second foreign language.

Refer to the UCLA transfer admission guide for up-to-date information regarding transfer selection for admission.

Required: Twelve upper-division courses as follows: Linguistics 102 (or 103), 119A (or 120A), 120B, 120C, 165B (or 165C or 180), one upper-division elective in linguistics; six upper-division courses in philosophy, including at least five from Philosophy 124 through 135, 170, 172, 174, 180, 181, 184, of which at least two must be from C127A, C127B, 172.