What is Linguistics?
Linguistics is concerned with the nature of language and communication. It deals both with the study of particular languages, and the search for general properties common to all languages or large groups of languages. It includes the following subareas:
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Phonetics (the study of the production, acoustics and hearing of speech sounds)
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Phonology (the patterning of sounds)
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Morphology (the structure of words)
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Syntax (the structure of sentences)
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Semantics (meaning)
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Pragmatics (language in context)
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Applied linguistics (application and research of linguistic knowledge in education)
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Anthropological linguistics (language in culture)
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Sociolinguistics (language in society)
Linguistics at UPRM:
Our program, as reflected in the
MAEE, has a strong history in the
area of applied linguistics. Many of
our students have gone on to earn
PhDs in top programs such as UT
Austin and Penn State in the field
of applied linguistics. Others have
gone on to become public school
teachers in Puerto Rico, while
others have gone on to teach English
in places such as Japan. Many of our
faculty specialize in applied
linguistics and are actively
pursuing research in this area. We
also have linguists that work in the
area of syntax, morphology,
phonetics, and phonology from a
variety of perspectives. To learn
more about what areas our faculty
specialize in, and are interested
in, visit the faculty listing site.
Also, take a look at our student
site to learn what some of our
graduate students are working on.
Our Faculty:
Careers in Linguistics:
People with training in linguistics
often go on to advanced study and
specialization in the various sub
fields. They then go onto work in
academics as researchers and/or
professors. Some of these academics
do experimental work, some travel to
collect data on less familiar
languages, some work in their
community to study the role language
plays in identity, among many other
research and teaching paths.
However, many others with a BA, MA,
or PhD choose to work in industry
for technology companies such as
Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, among many
others. Some go on to work for
consulting firms, advertising
companies, language education
companies, the government, among
other areas. Others use their
knowledge to become translators,
editors, technical writers, speech
pathologists, teachers, to earn law
degrees or become forensic
linguists. Several linguists have
made careers in the film industry
using their linguistics knowledge to
help actors learn certain accents as
well as to develop such languages as
Klingon for the Star Trek series.
One of the growing areas that
attracts many linguists is the area
of speech recognition and speech
technology. In short, there a great
number of fields where linguistic
knowledge is needed. An advantage to
our program, and our students, is
the bilingual environment in which
we are situated. Bilingual speakers
with linguistics training have
significant advantages in the job
market, in research areas, and in
educational settings.
To have a look at some of the jobs
available visit the Linguist List
jobs index. You'll find jobs in
academics in the various subfields,
and some jobs in industry as well.
http://www.linguistlist.org/jobs/index.html.
For information about teaching
English and a list of jobs around
the world visit Dave's ESL Cafe at
http://www.eslcafe.com/.
Also, try a web search for major
corporations such as Microsoft,
Google, AT & T, among others. Go to
their job postings and search for
"linguistics" or "linguist" to see
what types of positions they have,
you'll be surprised.
Online Resources in Linguistics:
-
Linguist List: By far the best resource on the web for linguistics, find information regarding jobs, teaching, learning, graduate and undergraduate programs, and much more. http://www.linguistlist.org/
- Linguistic Society of America: http://lsadc.org/info/lsa-index.cfm
- The Linguistics Association of Great Britain's (LAGB) "Fact Sheet" a good resource for getting started in Linguistics: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/ec/facts.htm
-
The Blackwell Publishing's Linguistics Resources
Page:
http://www.blackwellpublishers.co.uk/LINGUIST/default.htm
