The faculty in the Language and Linguistics program of the English Department train students in the formal study and analysis of the many facets of language. This major prepares students for graduate work in linguistics, foreign languages or medieval studies, or for careers in which a full awareness of the nature and characteristics of language is necessary, such as law, education, speech pathology, or information technology. We offer classes in general linguistics, phonetics and phonology, syntax, sociolinguistics, language and gender, the history of the language and Old English, as well as courses in medieval language and literature such as Beowulf and Chaucer. Students will also develop their skills in writing and literary analysis, and are free to take additional courses in literature or writing as electives. Many of our students find that their study of linguistics is complemented by a second major or a minor in Anthropology, Computer Science or a foreign language. Students majoring in Literature or Writing may minor in Linguistics or TESOL. Students majoring in Linguistics may minor in Literature or Writing. No course may simultaneously fulfill requirements in major and minor.<br>Students will be able to:<br><br>demonstrate (In all courses) by clear writing and discussion an understanding of the core areas of linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics.<br>demonstrate by formula analysis and writing the detailed interactions of phonetics and phonology as they are manifested in English and other typologically organized phonetic and phonological systems.<br>demonstrate by tree analysis, phrase structure rule analysis, transformational analysis and writing a detailed understanding of the principles and parameters approach to syntactic description and explanatory theory as these apply to at least SVO, SOV, and VSO languages.<br>demonstrate in speech and through writing a firm grasp of the impact of cultural and historical events on the development of the language; and demonstrate through linguistic analytical methods and writing a detailed understanding of phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic and orthographic changes in the major periods of the history of the English language.