Curriculum

Note that the UGA Bulletin is the official source for all degree requirements. In case of any discrepancies between the information here and the Bulletin, the Bulletin takes precedence.

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General Education Core Curriculum

It is important to work toward completing the General Education Core Curriculum requirements during the first few years of college, whether at UGA or another institution.

We do not specify any courses for Areas I, II, IV, or V. For Area III, we recommend PHIL 2500(H) or STAT 2000 or STAT 2100H, but these courses are not required; do not worry if you have advanced placement or other credit that already satisfies this area. It is always a good idea to attempt to take courses that simultaneously fulfill Core requirements and your University- or College-wide requirements, whenever possible. This reduces the amount of time spent taking courses that are not directly relevant to your major and make it easier to pursue a double major, if desired. See below for more information.

University and Franklin College Degree Requirements

In addition to completing the UGA Core Curriculum requirements (above), you must satisfy the University-wide degree requirements and Franklin College degree requirements.

A helpful tip: any courses that are used to fulfill major requirements, general electives, or the Core Curriculum may simultaneously satisfy the University or Franklin requirements. Look for courses that do double duty (or ask your advisor) and you will save yourself some time and effort.

LING 2100 The Study of Language can be used to satisfy part of Core Area IV, part of Core Area VI for the Linguistics major, and either the Franklin Fine Arts/Philosophy/Religion requirement or the Franklin Literature requirement.

LING 4015 Language, Race, and Ethnicity in the US satisfies the Franklin Multicultural Requirement and the University Cultural Diversity Requirement

LING 4880 Introduction to Language Documentation and Field Methods satisfies the Experiential Learning Requirement.

LING 4945 Internship in Teaching Linguistics and all research courses (LING 4960R, 4970R, 4980R, 4990R) satisfy the Experiential Learning Requirement

Linguistics Major requirements (24 Credit Hours)

These requirements only apply to students who declared a Linguistics major after August 2025. Students who declared before August 2025 should refer to this page here.

additional guidance for students

If you are interested in pursuing a graduate degree in Linguistics or a related field, you are strongly encouraged to take a course that will help you develop research skills, in particular:

• LING 4400/6400 Quantitative Methods
• LING 4410/6510 Experimental Methods in Linguistics
• LING 4880/6880 Introduction to Language Documentation and Field Methods
• LING 4886/6886 Text and Corpus Analysis

Students interested in graduate study should also consider taking additional linguistics courses beyond the minimum number required for the A.B. degree. A stronger background in Linguistics will make your application more competitive, and will benefit you after you are admitted to a graduate degree program. If you have questions about graduate school, you can speak with the Undergraduate Coordinator (Dr. Langston) or your faculty mentor.

If you are interested in computational linguistics, you should take some programming courses, such as CSCI 1300-1300L Introduction to Programming with Python, which can also be used to satisfy Core Area III or LING 2200 Python Programming for Language and Linguistics. LING 4530/6530 is also intended as an introductory course to computational linguistics, which does not require any prior knowledge of programming, but a course in programming (or equivalent experience) is strongly recommended before taking LING 4570/6570 Natural Language Processing.

You may also want to consider one of the Double Dawgs programs that are open to Linguistics majors. In addition to the Double Dawgs A.B./M.A. in Linguistics, students who are interested in teaching English to speakers of other languages can pursue an A.B. in Linguistics/M.A.T. in TESOL.

Updated: 05/24/25