Undergraduate Minor Linguistics

The undergraduate linguistics program at Cornell provides students with an opportunity to learn about the scientific study of human language in one of the most distinguished linguistics departments in the country. Although Cornell is a large university, the relatively small size of our undergraduate program allows students to enjoy seminar-style classes and close interaction with faculty members. Our undergraduate majors typically enjoy individual attention of a sort often not available in larger departments.

The undergraduate program offers students solid training not only in all major areas of theoretical linguistics—phonetics, phonology, syntax and semantics—but also in historical linguistics and computational linguistics. Our faculty's language area interests range from Indo-European languages (Germanic, Celtic, Romance, Slavic) to Japanese, Korean, Indonesian and Cheyenne. Undergraduate students have opportunities to work directly with faculty on original independent research projects as well as to get hands-on research experience through participating in faculty and graduate students' various research projects. Many of our undergraduate majors write honors theses. Visit the Honors Program section below to learn more.

Linguistics majors and minors are also encouraged to develop programs of study which focus on individual areas of special interest. Please reference Courses of Study for a full listing of linguistics courses. The major or minor can be combined with a related discipline such as anthropology, computer science, philosophy and psychology or can incorporate language study from Cornell's extensive offerings in both modern languages and classical languages.

The Department of Linguistics does not handle undergraduate admissions. Prospective students interested in majoring in Linguistics at Cornell should apply to the University directly for admission to Arts & Sciences. The linguistics major and minor are hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences.

Ten courses (minimum of 37 credit hours) in linguistics and two ancillary skills courses are required to complete the major.

Majors must complete 6 additional Linguistics courses (of 3 credits or more) selected in consultation with their advisor with the following conditions:

Any course with a LING prefix except for First-Year Writing Seminars and language courses counts as a linguistics course. Courses in other departments with a significant linguistic content will be considered by petition.

In addition, majors must complete two courses (3 credits or more) in one or more of the following areas, selected in consultation with their advisor. This requirement is intended to equip them with practical skills relevant to their particular interests in linguistics. The Ancillary Skills Course requirement may be waived for students who are majoring in more than one field.

Some substitutions to these standard requirements are possible by petition to your advisor and with approval by the director of undergraduate studies. All courses counted for the major must be taken for a letter grade. The minimum grade for courses applied to the linguistics major is C-.

The minor in linguistics gives students the opportunity to gain formal recognition for substantial coursework in linguistics without the burden of an additional major. The linguistics minor may be a valuable complement to studies in English, foreign languages, psychology, philosophy, computer science, biology, human development, or engineering and is open to undergraduates across Cornell.

Five courses in linguistics or courses approved for the linguistics major.

Honors in Linguistics are awarded for excellence in the major, including overall GPA and completion of an honors thesis. Applications for honors should be made by the start of fall term of the senior year.

Admissions: Admission to the honors program requires an overall GPA of at least 3.3 and a GPA in the major of at least 3.5. A student may be admitted provisionally in the honors program at the discretion of the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Thesis: In addition to the regular requirements of the major, the candidate for honors will complete an honors thesis. Writing an honors thesis is typically a two-semester project involving eight credits of coursework conducted during the senior year. During their first semester of honors work, students typically register for (1) LING 4493 - Honors Thesis Research (with their thesis advisor); and (2) LING 4491 - Honors Research Workshop I. During their second semester of honors work, students are required to register for (1) LING 4494 - Honors Thesis Research (with their thesis advisor); and (2) LING 4492 - Honors Research Workshop II.

Upon completion of the thesis, the student takes a final oral examination defending the thesis. The oral examination will be conducted by the honors committee, consisting of the thesis advisor and at least one other faculty member in linguistics. Members of other departments may serve as additional members if the topic makes this advisable. Honors students are also required to deposit a copy of the final thesis with the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Linguistics and are expected to give an oral presentation on their thesis topic during the department's year-end undergraduate honors colloquium. Honors are awarded by a departmental committee based on the thesis and overall academic record, guided by the honors committee's recommendation.

Applying for Honors form

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The Cornell UnderLings (Cornell Undergraduates in Linguistics) is the undergraduate student group of the Cornell Department of Linguistics. It serves to seek unity in the body of linguistics majors and promote linguistics at the undergraduate level in the Cornell community and the broader academic community. We have weekly meetings in which members plan events and activities, discuss linguistics and share related information and simply have fun chatting about classes and professors. Some of the events we have had include:

The Cornell UnderLings invites anyone who is interested in languages, language patterns, language usage, language change or just plain nerdiness to join us in Morrill Hall. You don't have to be in the linguistics major to experience and be a part of UnderLings! To hear about UnderLings events, join our listserv by emailing Javier Agredo.

The Cornell UnderLings host the annual Cornell Undergraduate Linguistics Colloquiums (CULC) to provide an opportunity for undergraduate linguistics majors from all over the world to present their research on linguistics.