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We offer degrees in Linguistics as well as many research opportunities for undergraduates
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Learn about our cross-disciplinary PhD program and our three Master's programs.
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Our research investigates the structure, complexity and diversity of human languages.
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CAREER awards recognize promising junior faculty
Four Rochester scientists have received prestigious NSF CAREER awards, presented to early-career faculty members for research and education initiatives.
Continue ReadingWhy Linguistics?
Linguistics training provides students with skills that are important in a rapidly changing society. They learn how to use analytic and theoretical tools, work in collaborative environments, and collect, document, and organize complex research data on human language. They also gain a deep appreciation and understanding of the value of a culturally and linguistically diverse environment.
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Fall 2024 Featured Course
LING 215/415
Languages of Africa
Instructor: Assistant Professor Nadine Grimm
Day, time: Tuesdays/Thursdays, 2:00pm - 3:15pm
About 2,000 of the world’s 7,000 languages are spoken in Africa. The diversity that characterizes these languages is exceptional, but little known to non-specialists. In this course, we will learn about the languages of Africa: the diversity of their linguistic structures (including famous features that are found nowhere else, e.g. click consonants), their history and the history of their speakers (from ca 10,000 BP to the (post-) colonial period), and their cultural contexts, among other topics.
We will explore the wealth and diversity of African cultures through the lens of language. This course also incorporates a variety of other disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, history, archaeology, human genetics, as well as the arts, to bring to light the variety of institutions, norms, and social practices produced by African societies which have historically been excluded from dominant cultural narratives. The focus will be on the role played by language in these institutions, norms and practices, and their representation.
This course has no prerequisites, and is open to anyone with an interest in African languages or the African continent.
Fall 2024 Featured Course
LING 226/426
Morphology
Instructor: Visiting Assistant Professor Mary Moroney
Day, time: Mondays/Wednesdays, 2:00pm-3:15pm
The course examines the structure and definition of the linguistic unit 'word'' its typology and the relationship of the morphological component to other levels in the grammar. The course includes an introduction to analytical techniques with emphasis placed on an examination of data from a range of languages. The building blocks of words will be analyzed and topics such as affixation, reduplication and inflectional and derivational morphology will be covered. We will examine the properties of words and how they fit into the larger structure of linguistic knowledge, including the relationship between words and syntactic structure (ex., phrases and sentences) and the relationship between words and phonological structure (ex., phonological rules and prosodic structure).
Center for Language Sciences
The Center for Language Sciences (CLS) is an organization at the University of Rochester that brings together faculty, postdocs, and graduate students who conduct research on any aspect of human language as a vehicle for active interdisciplinary work.
CLS fosters research and activities that reach across a very broad group of disciplines covering a wide research focus and range of interests. It's a continually evolving organization with a history of serving as a platform for training students and postdocs in interdisciplinary research and enhancing collaborations among members.
Learn More About CLS