The Department welcomes, but does not require, Graduate Record Examination scores. Students with an undergraduate degree who require preparation for admission to the M.A. may apply as special students. Comprehensive examination sectors are in written or oral format, depending on the nature of the subject matter. The Department has exemption procedures to allow limited substitution of requirements. The Department administers undergraduate majors in General Linguistics, in Russian, and in Slavic Studies, as well as a minor program in Asian Studies and in Russian and East European Studies.
Departmental honors require successful com pletion of honors comprehensive requirements.
The Department maintains listings of related courses from other departments which satisfy various program requirements. The focus of the linguistics program does not lie in the simple acquisition of language skills, but rather in learning to analyze linguistic phenomena with a view toward making significant generalizations about the nature of language. Students majoring in Linguistics build their programs around a specific area of concentration, the most common of which is Philology. The following listing represents the normal program for this concentration. The Department expects students concentrating in Philology to have proficiency in at least one classical and one modern language and to acquire a familiarity with at least two additional language areas.