Linguistics

Jason Haugen, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Chair
Steven Huff, Professor of German
Gillian Johns, Associate Professor of English
Patrick O’Connor, Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies and Comparative Literature
Martin Thomson-Jones, Professor of Philosophy
Patrick Simen, Associate Professor of Neuroscience

Visit the program webpage for up-to-date information on department faculty, visiting lecturers, and special events.

Linguistics is the discipline concerned with the study of human language. Courses in linguistics include training in the deductive techniques that linguists use to figure out the structures underlying natural language systems. These principles may be applied to learning or analyzing any human language and so courses in linguistics are broadly relevant to all students engaging in the study of any modern or classical language(s). Moreover, as the capacity for language is often taken to be one of the defining characteristics of the human species, an understanding of how language works is a key to understanding what it means to be human.

Language is vital to many disciplines across the liberal arts curriculum, so courses in linguistics often appeal to and are relevant for a wide variety of Oberlin students, including those majoring in Anthropology, Psychology, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Computer Science, any of the classical or modern world languages including English, Comparative Literature, and still others.

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Majors and Minors

Linguistics Minor

Courses

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