A minor in Linguistics for English Literature Ph.D. students

    The purpose of a minor in Linguistics is to provide the English Literature student with an opportunity to obtain a thorough understanding of fundamental linguistic concepts and an awareness of linguistic approaches to phonetic and phonological properties of language, to word structure and meaning, and to sentence and discourse structure.  The incorporation of Linguistics into the program of study would be of particular benefit to the Literature student who anticipates teaching to non-native speakers of English.  In this regard, courses in English as a Second Language (ESL) and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) will be very useful.  Note that a minor comprised of courses in the ESL/SLA area can easily be turned into a TEFL Certificate, since the TEFL Certificate requires only six courses and up to three courses from one program (such as a Ph.D.) can apply to another graduate program.  Completing this specialization, we believe, will lead to enhanced employment prospects for the student who does so.  For the literature student who is pursuing a specialization in Old and Middle English texts, a Linguistics minor centered around historical linguistics and the history of the English language is likely to be useful, since English departments often expect that courses in medieval literature and in history of the language will be taught by the same individual.  For the student interested in literary theory, courses in linguistic theory and in linguistic approaches to literature (such as LING 781) can open up new perspectives in textual analysis.  A minor in Linguistics will augment such a student's teaching portfolio, leaving them able to teach basic courses on language and grammar, in addition to history of the English language.

    The LING courses listed below are all courses which might be appropriate to a specialization in Linguistics for a Ph.D. student in English Literature.  Note that LING 600/ENGL 680 Survey of Linguistics is a prerequisite to many of the other course offerings.  For this reason, and because LING 600 provides a general overview of the discipline, students taking a specialization in Lingusitics are strongly advised to include LING 600 in their program of study.  Those courses which are ESL-related (and which might thus apply toward a TEFL Certificate) are noted in the list below.  Those courses that have ENGL cross-listings are also noted below.

Core:

LING 600    Survey of Linguistics    [= ENGL 680]
Other courses:
LING 541    Language and Gender
LING 565    Philosophy of Language

LING 710     Introduction to Phonology
LING 715    Applied English Phonetics    [ESL related]

LING 720     Introduction to Syntax
LING 725    Applied English Syntax    [ESL related, = ENGL 783]

LING 731    History of the English Language    [= ENGL 781]

LING 740     Introduction to Sociolinguistics
LING 744     Language Contact Phenomena
LING 745    Varieties of American English    [= ENGL 782]

LING 765    Studies in the Philosophy of Language
LING 780    Discourse Analysis
LING 781    Stylistics    [= ENGL 788]

LING 790    Second Language Acquisition    [ESL related]
LING 791    Theory and Methodology in Second Language Acquisition    [ESL related]
LING 795    Teaching English as a Foreign Language    [ESL related]
LING 798    Practicum in TEFL    [ESL related]

LING 890    Seminar in Language Acquisition    [ESL related]
LING 891    Seminar in English as a Second Language    [ESL related]

 

Linguistics Program | College of Liberal Arts | University of South Carolina