Linguistics
Welcome to the Department of Linguistics
Language is all around us, it permeates our lives and is the medium through which we interact with our family, friends, colleagues, and fellow citizens. But how does language work? How do we learn it and how can we understand it? Are all languages the same, or do they vary over people, places, and time? In the Department of Linguistics, we train students to answer these questions, whether through observation of human participants, laboratory experimentation, or fieldwork with Indigenous communities from Alberta to the Amazon. Check out our research labs and get involved in our quest to understand one of the essential things that makes us human.
Academic Programs
Undergraduate Program
Our undergraduate students learn about how humans communicate and how language influences behaviour and impacts society. A BA in Linguistics provides a strong foundation for careers in speech language pathology, education, audiology, psychology, and other language-related professions. Students can also get involved in our many ongoing research projects.
Graduate Program
The MSc and PhD programs offer students the opportunity to combine experimentation and hands-on data collection with theoretical inquiry. Students receive practical training in the collection, analysis, and publication of data based on cutting-edge, original research.
Certificates
The Undergraduate Certificate in Language Documentation and Revitalization (ClaDR) trains students in current best practices, with a focus on the Indigenous languages of the Americas.
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7000+
The number of languages spoken in the world today
Glottolog
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Over 50%
Of people in the world use two or more languages in their daily lives
Francois Grosjean
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Four
The number of times that writing has been invented independently
Marco Condorelli
Winter Term 2026
MWF 12:00 - 12:50 P.M.
LING 299-Bo2: Metaphor in language and mind
Recent research has explored metaphor not only in language and thought, but also in virtually any human-created thing, from images through music, to architecture and other concretely designed and built things, to even our fundamental abstract concepts like morality, social relationships, love, and life. The course should appeal to a wide diversity of students from EFS, Linguistics, Psychology, and many others. It may be used for credit towards an English major.
Dr. Herb Colston
Winter Term 2026
online
LING 299 850: Sounds of English
This course examines how the sounds of English are formed, in which context they occur and how they interact with each other. Students will also learn about the rhythm of English and how intonation is adjusted in different kinds of sentences. This course is focused on General Canadian English, but we will also examine some of the phonetic differences between English varieties. No previous knowledge of linguistics is required
Dr. Lena Jones
News + Events
Linguistics Colloquium: Plains Cree morphosyntax and preverbal order: An information-theoretic approach by Cameron Duval
Friday, October 24, 2025 | 3:00 p.m. MDT | SAB 3-36 or via Zoom
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