Explore human language in various aspects, from its internal mental structures to its everyday use in social life.
The linguistics major/minor allows students to study the mental structures of language (phonology, syntax, semantics) and how people use language in everyday life to organize their social worlds. In doing this, our major provides training in qualitative and quantitative data analysis, writing and argumentation, and a variety of methods for rigorous investigation.
Students participate in research both inside and outside classes, including documentation and analysis of understudied and endangered languages, computational analysis of large data sets, and investigation of the social impacts of language use.
What You’ll Study
- How language is used to construct identities and connect to social groups
- Interview-based, observational, experimental, and computational research methods
- The mental structures of language
- The relationship between language and cognition
Researching at Pomona
Researching Tiriki Grammar
As a research assistant to Prof. Michael Diercks, Evelyn TeSelle ’22 conducted interviews with a language consultant to investigate the function of copulas in Tiriki, a language of Kenya. She helped analyze data and produced an outline of the features and use of these copulas.
Morphology and Syntax of Tiriki
Mady Colantes ’22 got to research and analyze the syntax of noun phrases in the Bantu language Tiriki with Professor Michael Diercks. She helped research and document aspects of Tiriki’s morphology and syntax.
The Linguistics and Cognitive Science Department at Pomona is a very strong and inclusive community. I love going to mentor session and department events, because I always come away having met new people and feeling supported both socially and academically. The department has great meeting spaces on campus and a welcoming atmosphere, and I encourage anyone interested in linguistics to attend events and get to know all the lovely people in the department!