Linguistics at Lawrence brings you closer to the most fundamental aspect of the human experience—language. 

Examine how language works. Understand how it is used and how it shapes identities, communities, and culture. Combine anthropology and education, philosophy and psychology to gain a deeper understanding of human behavior.

Study every aspect of language from how languages work to how people use it.

Pursue a major or minor in linguistics or complete a teaching certification for teaching English as a Second Language.

Learn from faculty across academic disciplines.

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Live linguistic diversity abroad


The world is your classroom with opportunities to study in countries around the world.

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Drink It All In

Gather with your peers and professors each week for Linguistics Tea, where you’re just as likely to discuss linguistic theory as plot holes in your latest pop-culture binge.

The Chandler Senior Experience

For your Senior Experience, you will complete your senior seminar in linguistics along with an independent study that you can complete with a faculty advisor over one, two, or three terms (based largely on your research needs). Your Senior Experience will culminate in a research paper and oral presentation to faculty and students. Linguistics majors with double-majors in other fields (e.g., language, anthropology or psychology), typically combine their interests into one Senior Experience

Recent Senior Experiences include:

  • Native and non-native perceptions of pre-velar /æ/-raising in Wisconsin English
  • English-Spanish Code-switching in Bilingual Blogs: Patterns among native English speakers living abroad
  • What Did You Call That? An Examination of English Names Transliterated into Chinese
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Graduate listens to Commencement ceremony in the Banta Bowl

Explore Linguistics Outcomes


Linguistics prepares you to better understand human behavior which prepares you to succeed in any field, from business to law to arts or medicine.

On Any Given Day...

...discover an array of opportunities that await you at Lawrence University.

Academics

Unbagging First-Year Studies

Martyn Smith, director of First-Year Studies, unbags the 10 works being used in First-Year Studies during the 2021-2022 academic year.

Open textbook.
Course

Get an overview of bilingualism and the acquisition of Spanish in contact with other languages. It covers early and late acquisition of bilingual speech, Spanish in contact with other languages, and the sociopolitical dynamics of diglossia across the Spanish-speaking world. 

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