Our program in particular examines significant aspects of human nature at several levels and via a number of methodologies. We examine the nature of languages using various mathematical techniques. Students are required to actively participate in the building of elaborate theories of the underlying cognitive structures. They ponder what the results of linguistic analysis reveals about long-standing problems in the philosophy of language and mind. The program includes courses which investigate the quite amazing area of speech production and recognition through the use of sophisticated scientific instruments, which are available to all students in our laboratory, and we ask what the characteristics of sound and gesture systems tell us about human beings and their cognitive evolution.
Students probe the use of language in artistic settings.
They look at how languages develop and change over time, and how they are realized in written form. The program maintains active collaborations with many other departments on campus, including Asian Languages, Biology, Classics, English, Mathematics and Computer Science, Philosophy, Psychology, and Women's Studies. This is what the requirements of the major would be if it were an official part of our program. Students electing to follow this structure can be assured that it will be approved and that there will be courses to satisfy it. Of course, other proposals can be considered.