Psycholinguists examine the cognitive aspects of language. Neurolinguists look at brain structures where language is located and what happens to them when language is lost, in aphasia and other language deficits. Stereotypes like these arise from differences in speech patterns, which can be based not only on geography, but on gender, ethnic identity, and a host of other social factors. Sociolinguists examine linguistic differences across dialects, and the misunderstandings they sometimes create. Historical linguists study these evolutionary changes.
Computer Science Imagine a computer capable of intelligent conversation.
Computational linguists are attacking both ends of the conversation problem, working on systems that can recognize and produce speech just as well as we can. We offer a linguistics major and a flexible linguistics minor, which can be custom-tailored to work with your major. The major in linguistics can prepare you for a future in linguistic research, education, law, artificial intelligence, dictionary making, sign language interpreting, translating, and many other fields. The minor in linguistics combines naturally with a major in subjects as diverse as biology, anthropology, psychology, sociology, computer science, modern languages, English, philosophy, or physics. A linguistics subarea is also available in the computer science major.