语言学是语言科学。语言是人类行为中最多样化和最清晰的方面。它把人类与其他物种区分开来，人类的许多文化都依赖于它。因此，理解人类语言的本质是理解人类本质的关键。语言学试图发现世界各国人民语言的共同特征，了解语言随着时间的变化以及语言与人类社会其他方面的关系。语言学专业旨在为毕业生提供一系列技能和知识体系。毕业生将具有使用正式和实验方法分析语言最重要特征的技能：声音，单词，句子和对话。学生还将学习语言学家对世界上的语言，其历史和结构以及语言如何与所有文化的各个方面相互作用的知识。
Linguistics is the science of language. Language is at once the most diverse and the most clearly structured aspect of human behavior. It distinguishes humans from other species and much of human culture depends on it. Understanding the nature of human language is therefore a key to understanding human nature. Linguistics seeks to discover the common features of the languages of the world's peoples, to understand how languages change over time, and how language relates to other aspects of human society. The major in Linguistics is designed to provide graduates with a set of skills and a body of knowledge. A graduate will have the skills to analyze the most important features of language: sounds, words, sentences, and conversation, using both formal and experimental methods. Students will also learn what linguists know about the languages of the world, their history and structure, and how language interacts with many facets of all cultures.