Minor in Linguistics
Overview Heading link
The Department of Linguistics offers course work leading to the Minor in Linguistics that will engage students in the description and analysis of language, language use, and language learning. The Minor will position students for further study in linguistics as well as for many careers in which explicit knowledge of how language works is required.
The applications of linguistics are varied and far-reaching, especially relevant for education, psychology, anthropology, communication, natural language processing and generation, human-machine interface design, language teaching, language app design and assessments.
Brittani Howard Class of 2022 Heading link
My name is Brittani, and I graduated in spring 2022 with BA in Anthropology and Minor in Linguistics. I’m interested in resolving social inequities, human rights, and the continuation of cultures surviving under colonialism.In my senior year, I worked on a project titled ‘Revitalization through Self-Documentation, a Community-Centered Language-Learning App’, which involved developing and testing an app allowing members of endangered language communities to document and learn their heritage languages. I presented on the project at the MidWest Association for Language Learning Technology Conference in February 2022. As someone who has been disconnected from their heritage languages on both sides of my family—my great-grandfather was Indigenous, and my great-great-grandmother spoke Gaelic—this project stems from my hope that others will be able to build and maintain those connections for future generations.
Brittani Howard has been admitted to pursue graduate studies at University of Chicago, one step closer to her goal of becoming goal of becoming a professor of Cultural Anthropology and Linguistics.
I graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2019 with a BA in Political Science and a minor in Linguistics. My research interests span across Sociophonetics, African American Language, Raciolinguistics, and Educational Policy. At UIC, my linguistic classes were hubs of diversity in thought and perspective. The professors nurtured blooming ideas and inspired me to discuss and engage with concepts I did not understand. My linguistic curiosity remains unsatiated, and now I am pursuing my Master’s in Linguistics at Northeastern Illinois University. Since starting my graduate program, I have found myself in collaboration with various researchers nationwide. Currently, I am a research consultant for a raciolinguistics project, working with exceptional scholars on assessing curricula in introductory linguistic courses at different institutions. And I am working on a publication about first gen scholars in linguistics with members of the Linguistic Society of America’s First Gen Access and Equity subcommittee. Ultimately, I want to work in educational policy and be involved in the decision-making process concerning speakers of non-standard varieties in the United States.
Tamaya Levy is a recipient of the George Floyd Social Justice Scholarship at Northeastern Illinois University.