Graduate Student Charlotte Logan wins Elouise Cobell Dissertation Fellowship
Congratulations to graduate student Charlotte Logan on winning the Elouise Cobell Dissertation Fellowship in 2024.
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Our faculty are interested in many different aspects of language: how we speak, understand and learn language; how languages change over time; how computers can understand and generate language; and how social and cultural contexts influence language. Undergraduate and graduate students study these and other aspects of language through our diverse course offerings. Our academic programs allow students the flexibility to develop programs of study specific to their personal goals and interests.
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What do linguists study and teach?
Linguistics attempts to answer such questions as:
- How the mind enables us to produce and understand utterances
- How children acquire language
- How and why languages resemble and differ from each other
- How and why languages change over time and how they are related
- How the categories of language relate to the world
- How language use varies across different social and cultural contexts
- How to make computers talk and 'understand' human languages
Getting started...
Students interested in learning more about linguistics and its relationship to other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences are encouraged to take Linguistics 1101, a general overview that is a prerequisite for most other courses in the field or one of the first-year writing seminars offered in linguistics (on topics such as metaphor, language processing and disorders, English outside the box and the language instinct). Linguistics 1101 and our other introductory courses fulfill various distribution requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Most of our 1100- and 2200-level courses have no prerequisites. These cover various topics in linguistics or the historical development of particular languages:
- LING 1109 - English Words: Histories and Mysteries
- LING 2221 - Language and Society
- LING 2223 - Language and the Law
- LING 2248 - Native American Languages
- LING 2264 - Language, Mind, and Brain
- LING 2285 - Linguistic Theory and Poetic Structure
Linguistics News
Language ‘Sustainability through Collaboration’ Conference at Cornell
Cornell, the only institution offering regular multilevel instruction in all six of the major Southeast Asian languages – Burmese, Indonesian, Khmer, Filipino (Tagalog), Thai and Vietnamese – will host a conference on the teaching of these languages on Sept. 19-21.
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From portfolios to pizza, fall A&S career events explore diverse fields
"Cornell alumni are generous with their time and efforts to assist students, to answer questions from students, or connect them to people and places."
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New A&S dean relishes ‘life in a university’
Peter John Loewen says he's excited to support faculty in their research, meet students and showcase the value of a liberal arts education.
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Professor Emeritus Wayles Browne Publishes Book
Professor Emeritus Wayles Browne's book, The Cambridge Handbook of Slavic Linguistics, is now available through Cambridge Publishing.
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Peter Loewen named dean of Arts and Sciences 
Coming from the University of Toronto, where he is the director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Loewen begins his five-year appointment as the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Aug. 1.
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American Sign Language has found a growing home on the Hill
Now offered as a minor, the study of ASL at Cornell came about through years of student advocacy
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