You are in the official current online General Catalog
for California State University, Fresno.
Linguistics
College of Arts and Humanities
Department of Linguistics
XINCHUN (JEAN) WANG, Chair
DENISE BISSETT, Administrative
Support Coordinator
Peters Business Building, Room 383
559.278.2441
http://www.fresnostate.edu/linguistics/
B.A. in Linguistics
Teaching English as a Second Language
Option
General Linguistics Option
Computational Linguistics
Interdisciplinary Language Studies
M.A. in Linguistics
Teaching English as a Second Language
Option
Minor in Linguistics
Minor in Computational Linguistics
Minor in Cognitive Science
(See Special Programs)
Minor in Teaching English as a Second Language
Undergraduate Certificate in TESOL
Graduate Certificate
in TESOL
CLAD/BCLAD
Faculty
Xinchun (Jean) Wang, Chair
Sean Fulop, Graduate Adviser
Brian Agbayani
Barbara Birch
Jidong Chen
Chris Golston
Ellen Lipp
Vida Samiian
The Department
Language is an essential part of our life. Nothing characterizes humanity
more than the ability to use language. Linguists analyze sounds, words,
sentences, and texts. Linguists also make valuable contributions to practical
fields such as K-12 teaching, second and foreign language teaching, language
planning, translation, computer science, forensic linguistics, and language
disorders.
Computational applications of linguistics, such as speech synthesis, speech
recognition, and machine-assisted translation, have also become increasingly
important.
Our undergraduate and graduate programs develop intellectual skills that
are essential to professional careers or advanced degrees. Our courses provide
analytical tools that can be applied to virtually any subject. They also
help enhance critical thinking, satisfy broad intellectual interest, and
enrich personal knowledge.
Our majors can be applied directly to various professional fields. They
also serve as excellent preparation for pursuing advanced degrees in linguistics
and other fields such as English, anthropology, psychology, sociology, computer
science, and foreign languages. TESL is an important part of our program
and especially compatible with degrees in education and liberal studies.
A Japanese minor can be profitably combined with majors in such areas as
business, international relations, linguistics, and literature.
Minors in Chinese and Japanese are also available for students with plans
to pursue careers in various areas, such as international business, marketing,
economics, art and literature, etc., where a knowledge of language and culture
would be useful.
The B.A. Option in Computational Linguistics is for those students interested
in text processing, forensic linguistics, software design, machine translation,
and other professions dealing with the interface between computers and humans.
Facilities
The Department of Linguistics has a computer lab for computer-assisted language learning (CALL), for language study, for the analysis of speech sounds, and for displaying the operation of the organs of speech. Computers are used for simulating speech and for mapping the geographical extent of language features, as well as for storing the data needed for the making of grammars and dictionaries. The Linguistics Department provides practical classroom teaching experience for qualified TESL students through employment in the American English Institute. For more, see American English Institute in the Special Programs section of this catalog. Also associated with the Linguistics Department is the Forensic Linguistics Institute (FLI). The FLI provides analyses in linguistic stylistics to extramural clients, thereby giving Fresno State linguistics majors opportunities for work, study, and research.
Career Opportunities
Many of our B.A. students want to pursue careers in education. There
are several ways to do this. Students interested in teaching grades 7-12
can enroll in the English Department Credential Program with a linguistics
emphasis. Students can double major in linguistics and liberal studies,
or minor in linguistics with a liberal studies major to lead to a Multiple
Subject Credential for K-6 instruction. Students who pursue a major in linguistics
by itself may enter the Multiple Subject Credential Program with satisfactory
completion of the CSET Exam. Many linguistics graduates find jobs teaching
English overseas.
Students with a B.A. or M.A. in Linguistics can go on for further education
in a wide variety of fields. In law or criminology, they have a special
understanding of legal issues involving language or the use of language
evidence in litigation (forensic linguistics). With additional work in computer
science, the linguistics student can find employment in software development
working with computer language or making the interface smoother between
human and computer. After further training, some linguistics students work
for the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Peace
Corps, the United States Information Agency, the military, or the State
Department monitoring foreign news or doing cryptography, language instruction,
or translation. Many corporations recruit linguistics majors into management,
development, and marketing positions. Enterprising linguistics students
have developed service-related businesses in consulting, interpretation,
translation, or communication.
After the Master of Arts in Linguistics, many of our students are accepted
into Ph.D. programs in the best research universities in the U.S. in applied
or theoretical linguistics, ESL, education, anthropology, psychology, or
other majors. The M.A. Option in ESL prepares students for Ph.D. programs
or teaching/administrative positions overseas, in community colleges, and
in adult schools.
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