This major offers students a strong grounding in linguistics, including language acquisition, and an in-depth study of one of the world languages already offered at the college: French, Italian, Japanese, or Spanish. The major will consist of five linguistics courses and seven courses in the world language. The seven world language courses will be the student’s specialization within the major, and that specialization will be tracked in PAWS and reflected on the student’s transcript at graduation. At least 5 courses must be taken at the 300 level.
The major assumes no previous foreign language study. Even if students enter with no knowledge of a foreign language, they will have ample time to complete the required seven language courses. Students entering the major at a higher proficiency level will be able to take a greater number of upper-level courses in the foreign language. Students will be actively encouraged to complete at least one study abroad semester. They can take three language and linguistics courses for the WLL major and one free elective during their semester abroad.
The major is housed in the Department of World Languages and Cultures and incorporates the best practices with regard to the teaching of world languages already in place in the WLC Department.
Requirements (11 course units)
The minimum requirement for the World Languages and Linguistics major: Liberal Arts is 11 course units, of which at least 5 must be taken at the 300 level.
Linguistics Requirements (5 course units)
All students must take:
- WLC 390 (Second Language Acquisition and Related Methodologies )
Choose at least one WLL Foundation Course (Linguistic Theory):
- ANT 213 Language and Culture: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology
- LNG 201 Introduction to the English Language
- WLC 215 Introduction to Linguistics
Choose at least one Linguistic History Core Course:
- LNG 202 Structure and History of the English Language
- WLC 220 Introduction to Romance Linguistics
- WLC 321 Introduction to Historical Linguistics
Choose at least one Linguistics option. Any core course not listed here can be chosen as an option:
- ANT 213Language and Culture: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology (if not taken as one of the core courses)
- ANT 390 Research Course in Anthropology (when the topic is related to discourse analysis)
- JPN 370 Topics in Japanese (when the title is Introduction to Japanese Linguistics)
- LNG 201/Introduction to the English Language (if not taken as one of the core courses)
- LNG 202/Structure and History of the English Language (if not taken as one of the core courses)
- LNG 311 Contemporary English Grammar
- LNG 371 World Englishes
- LNG 372 American English Dialects
- LNG 391, SPA 391, or other appropriate Independent Study
- PHL 421 Philosophy of Language
- SPA 215 Spanish Phonetics
- SPA 301 Advanced Spanish Grammar
- SPA 350 Introduction to Spanish Linguistics
- SPA 351 Spanish/English Translation I
- SPA 372 History of the Spanish Language
- SPA 373 Introduction to Hispanic Bilingualism in the United States
- WLC 215/Introduction to Linguistics (if not taken as one of the core courses)
- WLC 220/Introduction to Romance Linguistics (if not taken as one of the core courses)
- WLC 321/Introduction to Historical Linguistics (if not taken as one of the core courses)
- WLC271 WGS 271 ANT 270 Gender and Language
- WLC 371 Topics in Linguistics in English
World Language Requirements (6 course units)
The major assumes no previous foreign language study. Even if students enter with no knowledge of a foreign language, they will have ample time to complete the required language courses. Students entering the major at a higher proficiency level will be able to take a greater number of upper-level courses in the foreign language. Students will be actively encouraged to complete at least one study abroad semester. They can take three language and linguistics courses for the WLL major and one free elective during their semester abroad.
Below are the course requirements according to language specialization. Note that up to three courses taken abroad can be counted toward the major for any language specialization.
Chinese Specialization
Language Core
- CHI 152
- CHI 202
- CHI 270 Topics in Chinese When the topic is “Chinese Topics in Contemporary China”
- CHI 301
- CHI 302
French Specialization
Language Core
- FRE 211: Introduction to the French and Francophone World (1 course unit)
- FRE 240 or FRE 241: Introduction to French Literature/Intro to African Francophone Literature (1 course unit)
- FRE 270 or FRE 255: Intermediate Topics/French for Business (1 course unit)
- FRE 301: Advanced Composition and Conversation 1 (1 course unit)
- FRE 3XX: French Culture or Literature (1 course unit)
- FRE 3XX: French Culture or Literature (1 course unit)
Italian Specialization
Language Core
- ITL 203 or ITL 211 (1 course unit)
- ITL 216 or ITL 217 (1 course unit)
- ITL 240 or ITL 255 (1 course unit)
- ITL 3XX: Italian Culture or Literature (1 course unit)
- ITL 3XX: two courses at the 300 level during study abroad. Students can either study in Siena at Universitá per stranieri or at the Universitá del Sacro Cuore in Milan (preferred), where they can take a variety of courses in Italian language and linguistics, including phonetics, glottology and history of Italian. (2 course units)
Japanese Specialization
Language Core
- JPN 152 (2 course units)
- JPN 202 (1 course unit)
- JPN 270 when the topic is “Intermediate review” (1 course unit)
- JPN 301 (1 course unit)
- JPN 302 (1 course unit)
Spanish Specialization
Language Core
- SPA 203 OR SPA 210 (1 course unit)
- SPA 211 (1 course unit)
- SPA 241 (1 course unit)
- SPA 215 (1 course unit)
- SPA 350 (1 course unit)
- SPA 300-level (1 course unit)