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Linguistics

College of Arts and Humanities
Department of Linguistics
BARBARA BIRCH, Chair
DENISE BISSETT, Administrative
Support Coordinator
Peters Business Building, Room 383
(559) 278-2441

http://www.csufresno.edu/linguistics/

Subject Matter Preparation Program in English/ESL

Graduate Certificate in TESOL
CLAD/BCLAD

Faculty

Barbara M. Birch, Chair

Undergraduate Advisers: Barbara M. Birch, Gerald R. McMenamin

Graduate Advisers: Chris Golston

Brian Agbayani, Ritva Laury, Ellen Lipp, Shigeko Okamoto, George W. Raney, Vida Samiian, Terese Thonus, Raymond S. Weitzman, Jack B. Zeldis



The Department

Language is an essential part of our life. Nothing characterizes humanity more than the ability to use language. To understand the general nature of language, linguists analyze sounds, words, sentences, and texts. Linguists also make valuable contributions to practical fields such as K-12 teaching, second and foreign language teaching, language planning, translation, computer science, forensic linguistics, and language disorders.

Computational applications of linguistics, such as speech synthesis, speech recognition, and machine-assisted translation, have also become increasingly important in recent years.

Both our undergraduate and graduate programs aim to develop intellectual skills that are essential to professional careers or advanced degrees. Our courses provide students with analytical tools that can be applied to virtually any subject. They also help enhance critical thinking, satisfy broad intellectual interest, and enrich personal knowledge.

Our majors can be applied directly to various professional fields. They also serve as excellent preparation for pursuing advanced degrees in linguistics and other fields such as English, anthropology, psychology, sociology, computer science, and foreign languages. ESL is an important part of our program and especially compatible with degrees in education and liberal studies. A Japanese minor can be profitably combined with majors in such areas as business, international relations, linguistics, and literature.

A Japanese Minor is also available for students with an interest in Japanese language and culture and/or plans to pursue careers in various areas, such as international business, marketing, economics, art and literature, etc., where a knowledge of the Japanese language and culture would be useful.

Facilities

The Department of Linguistics has equipment for the analysis of speech sounds and for displaying the operation of the organs of speech. Computers are used for simulating speech and for mapping the geographical extent of language features, as well as for storing the data needed for the making of grammars and dictionaries. The Linguistics Department provides practical classroom teaching experience for qualified ESL students through employment in the American English Institute. A description of the American English Institute is included in the Special Programs section of this catalog. Also associated with the Linguistics Department is the Forensic Linguistics Institute (FLI). The purpose of the FLI is to provide analyses in linguistic stylistics to extramural clients, thereby giving Fresno State linguistics majors opportunities for work, study, research, and career preparation in a new and rapidly-developing area of applied linguistics.

Career Opportunities

Many of our B.A. students want to pursue careers in education. There are several ways to do this. Our department offers a Subject Matter Preparation Program for students who wish to teach ESL, language arts, or English composition and literature in California middle and high schools. Students can double major in linguistics and liberal studies, or minor in linguistics with a liberal studies major to lead to a Multiple Subject Credential for K-6 instruction. Students who pursue a major in linguistics by itself may enter the Multiple Subject Credential Program with satisfactory completion of the MSAT Exam. Many linguistics students find jobs teaching English overseas upon completion of the B.A. or M.A.

Students with a B.A. or M.A. in Linguistics can go on for further education in a wide variety of fields. In law or criminology, they have a special understanding of legal issues involving language or the use of language evidence in litigation (forensic linguistics). With additional work in computer science, the linguistics student can find employment in software development working with computer language or making the interface smoother between human and computer. After further training, some linguistics students work for the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Peace Corps, the United States Information Agency, the military, or the State Department monitoring foreign news or doing cryptography, language instruction, or translation. Many corporations recruit linguistics majors into management, development, and marketing positions. Enterprising linguistics students have developed service-related businesses in consulting, interpretation, translation, or communication.

After the Master of Arts in Linguistics, many of our students are accepted into Ph.D. programs in the best research universities in the U.S. in applied or theoretical linguistics, ESL, education, anthropology, psychology, or other majors. The M.A. Option in ESL prepares students for Ph.D. programs or teaching/administrative positions overseas, in community colleges, and in adult schools.

Linguistics Courses

Linguistics Degrees

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