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What is Linguistics?

How does language work? What is its structure, in sentences, words and sounds or signs? How do we learn it? How do we use it to communicate? How does it change over time?

Linguistics is the science of human language. From the individual level to the social, language permeates our experiences and human interactions. Language enables us to communicate with people around us, to listen to our neighbors, and we learn new languages to cross boundaries, to forge new connections both locally and on a global scale.

At Carolina we provide students with the tools to analyze the languages of the world and the languages and dialects spoken in our state. We offer courses in formal grammar, sentence structure, sound patterns and meaning, computational linguistics, language acquisition and sociolinguistics, and more. We offer an Undergraduate Major and Minor, an MA in Linguistics, and students can pursue a Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics in conjunction with Romance Studies.

Syntax Tree

Latest News

Romance Department August Colloquium 8/31

Caitlin Smith joins the Department of Linguistics

Linguistics Welcomes Dr. Caitlin Smith

Caitlin Smith joins the Department of Linguistics

Upcoming & Recent Events

March

24

Computational Linguistics Brown Bag Seminar: Brandon Pricket

11:00 am – 12:30 pm, Hanes – 0125

March

3

Computational Linguistics Brown Bag Seminar Andij Rusyn

11:00 am – 12:30 pm, Hanes – 0125

Latest Posts

Mike Terry to teach at the 2023 LSA Summer Institute

 

Brian Hsu receives University Teaching Award

 

Jamilläh Rodriguez in Linguistic Discovery

 

Katya Pertsova in Morphology

 

Featured Alumni

Chelsea Carter

BA in Linguistics with Minors in Speech and Hearing Sciences, and Hispanic Studies
2018

Amaya Madden

Bachelor of Arts, Double Major: Linguistics and Asian Studies - Japanese
2015

Alex Fine

BA in Linguistics, Minor in German
2006