Undergraduate Program
Erin Leddon, Director of Undergraduate Studies
Undergraduate students can major or minor in linguistics. At all levels, students are encouraged to pursue integrative research which crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries, and to take advantage of insights and methods both from within linguistics and from related fields.
Requirements for a Linguistics Major or Minor
See the Northwestern online catalog for information about the requirements for the Linguistics Major or Minor.
The degree requirements for the Linguistics major and minor were revised effective Fall 2020. Students have the option to follow the requirements in place during any year they were at Northwestern. This means that students who began at Northwestern in Fall 2020 or later must follow the new requirements. Students who began before Fall 2020 may complete their major or minor following the old requirements and taking related courses, or adopting the new requirements. The major and minor worksheets are helpful tools for tracking progress under either set of requirements.
How to declare a major or minor
Weinberg students must officially declare a major before the end of sophomore year. Here are the steps:- Download the Declaration Of Major or Minor form and fill out the student and major/minor information sections.
Note to Mac users: Please fill out forms in Adobe Reader or Acrobat rather than Preview. Information filled out in Preview is not retained when the pdf is opened in other applications.
- Save the pdf named as: “<Your Last Name>_<Your Student ID>”.
- Send your form to the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) for the department's approval.
- Set up an appointment to meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) for an orientation to the department and to discuss requirements and explore course options.
- The department/program will submit the completed and signed declaration form to wcas-forms@northwestern.edu.