Studying Linguistics at MSU

This page offers some advice for students who are either studying or interested in studying linguistics at MSU. For basic information about the undergraduate linguistics program, see the official program webpage.

Undergraduate Courses

MSU has a very strong undergraduate linguistics program, offering a BA and a minor with courses covering almost all of the "core" areas of theoretical and experimental linguistics. Undergrads can also take some courses in second language acquisition (including TESOL) and speech science/pathology -- see the LLT and CSD course codes in the course catalog.

In addition to the major and minor, linguistics courses can be used towards a cognate in the College of Arts and Letters if your major requires one, or as an IAH course substitution if you are in the Honors College. Linguistics courses can also be applied to the humanities prelaw BA and the cognitive science specialization.

The best way to get started in linguistics is to take one of the introductory courses: LIN 200 or LIN 401. Both courses cover roughly the same content; the only major differences are that LIN 200 is 3 credits rather than 4 and that it is taught by senior graduate students rather than professors.

Once you've completed LIN 200/401, you can take any 400-level linguistics course (the 200-level courses do not require any background). If you decide to keep going, try to take the theoretical courses (listed below) sooner rather than later.

• • LIN 424 -- Phonetics and Phonology (required for major and minor)

  • LIN 431 -- Morphology (required for major)

  • LIN 434 -- Syntax (required for major and minor)

  • LIN 437 -- Semantics and Pragmatics (required for major)

All of these courses will help you in the other courses, while the reverse is not necessarily true.

There is no particular ordering between the courses, but it can be helpful to take syntax (434) before semantics (437) and morphology (431), and phonetics and phonology (424) before laboratory phonetics (a special topics course). Among these courses, some students find syntax and semantics to be the hardest since are the most abstract -- if you think this will apply to you then you may want to avoid taking 434 and 437 at the same time.

The remaining numbered courses (listed below) are all run at least once a year.

• • LIN 225 -- Language and Gender (interdepartmental with WS)

  • LIN 450 -- Child Language Acquisition

  • LIN 455 -- Neurolinguistics

  • LIN 463 -- Intro to Cognitive Science (interdepartmental with PHL, PSY)

  • LIN 471 -- Sociolinguistics (required for major)

  • LIN 499 -- Senior Thesis (required for major)

All of these can be taken at any time, although typically you would do a thesis (essentially, a large research project) in your final year.

There are also several special topics courses (LIN 291/491) that are run regularly.

• • LIN 291 -- Animal Communication

  • LIN 491 -- Laboratory Phonetics

  • LIN 491 -- Japanese Linguistics

Note that while LIN 225 and 291 can be used towards the major and minor, they are quite far afield from the rest of the courses, and appeal mainly to students outside of linguistics.

Graduate Courses

Undergraduates can take 800-level linguistics courses (and count them towards the major/minor) with permission from the instructor, and professors are usually willing to let you take their course if you did well in the corresponding undergraduate course. The courses are typically taught in seminar format (readings/problem sets and discussion) and require you to write one or more research papers. It can be a very good idea to take at least one 800-level course when you are a junior or senior if you are considering going on to grad school.

If you decide to take a graduate course, note that they are typically taught once every one or two years, so you will need to plan ahead to make sure they fit your schedule.

Courses in Other Departments

In addition to the LIN courses, there are a variety of linguistics and linguistics-related courses under other course codes. These include (in addition to LLT and CSD as mentioned above):

• • ANP 420 -- Language and Culture

  • FRN 330 -- French Phonetics

  • FRN 430 -- French Linguistics

  • GRM 460 -- German Linguistics

  • IAH 231C -- Neurolinguistics or variation and change, depending on the semester

  • PHL 360 -- Philosophy of Language

  • PHL 431 -- Topics in Philosophy of Logic and Language

  • SPN 330 -- Spanish Phonetics

  • SPN 440 -- Structure of the Spanish Language

  • SPN 482 -- Topics in Spanish Linguistics

Unfortunately, these courses do not count towards the linguistics major or minor, although you may be able to count them towards another major, minor, specialization, or cognate.

Which Courses to Take and When?

Since there is no particular ordering between the 400-level LIN classes (other than the the recommendation that you do the theoretical courses early), the best way to choose among the available options is go for the subjects you are most interested in first. Then, if you find that you really enjoy that area, you will hopefully be able to take the corresponding graduate course or do some research (and present at MSULC/GLEEFUL!) before you graduate.

For example, suppose that you decide at the end of LIN 200/401 that you are interested in semantics and language acquisition, and you think that you'll finish at least a minor. In that case, you might take syntax (434) and semantics (437) first, putting off phonetics and phonology (424) if need be. Next, take child language acquisition (450). Then, if you decide to go on, you could take 800-level semantics (837) or child language acquisition (850).

All of the numbered undergrad LIN courses are taught at least once per year during the fall or spring semester. The only courses that are regularly taught during the summer are LIN 200, 225, and 401, so don't count on being able to take any other LIN classes during the summer. Special topics and 800-level courses can be irregular, but you if you talk to the professor that teaches the course you can usually find out if it will be taught in the fall or spring (or not at all) before the preliminary course schedule for the next year is released.

Courses not Offered at MSU

Some sub-fields of linguistics without a course currently being taught at MSU include:

• • Comparative linguistics/language typology

• Computational linguistics

• Historical/diachronic linguistics

• Pragmatics/discourse

• Psycholinguistics

All is not lost if you are really interested in one of these areas. You can learn the basics from books and online resources, and you may even be able to do a research project with a professor here at MSU -- ask around to find out who knows about the area you're interested in.

Also, note that undergraduates are eligible to attend the LSA Summer Linguistic Institute, which is held every two summers at different universities and offers a vast array of courses from broad overviews to specialized sub-fields. The coursework can potentially be transferred to MSU, but you will likely have to jump through hoops in order to get the transfer approved since you won't be taking normal courses at the host institution.

This page originally written by Kenneth Hanson (class of 2014). Last updated 8/20/2015.