BA in English Language (51 hours)

Statement of Purpose

The English Language major focuses on the detailed linguistic study of the English language. From the major, students will gain detailed knowledge of the English language and language-based analytical skills that will be useful in such professions as law, business, medicine, editing, and teaching English to speakers of other languages. The major differs from a traditional linguistics major in that it focuses not on language in general, but on the English language as it occurs in actual use across communities and throughout history.

Graduates of the English Language major should be able to analyze the structure and use of the English language. Analyzing structure includes analyzing the subsystems of English, such as its sounds, grammar, and vocabulary. Analyzing the use of English, includes analyzing historical change, social and regional variation, register, standardization, and other social aspects.

Goals

In keeping with the Mission of Brigham Young University, the Aims of a BYU Education, and the Institutional Objectives, the faculty in the English Language major is committed to providing an educational environment that supports the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ with its emphasis on the pursuit of truth. This is done on a class-by-class basis, as faculty members attempt to elucidate the natural connections between the secular knowledge of their specialized fields and the truths of the restored gospel. The desired outcome is to help build character and spiritual strength in the students, and to encourage them to pursue opportunities for life-long learning and service.

Graduates with an ELang major should be able to:

1. Analyze English sounds and compare the phonology of different dialects.
2. Analyze English grammatical structures using traditional grammatical terminology.
3. Use semantic concepts to describe the interpretation of words and phrases.
4. Use pragmatic concepts to analyze meaning of language in context.
5. Analyze the validity of usage prescriptions and make their own usage judgements.
6. Describe basic characteristics of English in its historical stages and tell how a language, particularly English, changes.
7. Recognize and analyze variation in English.
8. Analyze and describe actual use of English across registers and dialects.

Program Requirements    |    View MAP

1. Complete the following prerequisite to all courses required for the English language major:
   ELANG 223 : Introduction to the English Language.
2. Complete the following core courses:
   ELANG 273 : Empirical Methods in English Linguistics.
   ELANG 322 : Modern American Usage.
   ELANG 324 : History of the English Language.
   ELANG 325 : The Grammar of English.
   ELANG 326 : English Semantics and Pragmatics.
   ELANG 327 : English Phonetics and Phonology.
   ELANG 495R : The Senior Course.
3. Complete one course from the following:
   ELANG 362 : Discourse Analysis.
   ELANG 468 : Varieties of English.
   LING 550 : Sociolinguistics.
4. Complete one of the following period courses:
   ELANG 525 : Old English 1.
   ELANG 526 : Middle English.
   ELANG 527 : Early Modern English.
5. Complete three courses from the following:
   DIGHT 230 : Introduction to Print Publishing.
   DIGHT 250 : Web Publishing.
   DIGHT 260 : (DigHT-LingC) Programming for Text Processing and Analysis.
   ELANG 362 : Discourse Analysis.
   ELANG 421R : Studies in Language or Editing.
   ELANG 468 : Varieties of English.
   ELANG 521R : Studies in Language.
   ELANG 522 : Language Policy and Planning in English Language Contexts.
   ELANG 524 : History of the Book.
   ELANG 525 : Old English 1.
   ELANG 526 : Middle English.
   ELANG 527 : Early Modern English.
   ELANG 529 : Structure of Modern English.
   ELANG 535 : Language and Literature.
   ELANG 548 : Old English 2.
   LING 325 : Theoretical Syntax.
   LING 450 : Introduction to Historical-Comparative Linguistics.
   LING 485 : Corpus Linguistics.
   LING 545 : Psycholinguistics.
   LING 550 : Sociolinguistics.
   LING 551 : Anthropological Linguistics.
   LINGC 200 : Basic Humanities Computing Skills.
   LINGC 220 : Linguistic Computing Programming 1.
   LINGC 260 : (LingC-DigHT) Programming for Text Processing and Analysis.
   LINGC 355 : (LingC-DigHT) Text Encoding and Markup.
   LINGC 360 : International Software and Text Processing.
   LINGC 361 : Speech Processing.
   LINGC 489R : Linguistic Computing Project.

   Note 1: Only one digital humanities and technology (DigHT) or linguistics computing (LingC) course can be used to fill this requirement.

   Note 2: The courses chosen to satisfy items three and four above can NOT double count in this requirement.

6. Complete 12 credit hours of university course work (or the equivalent) to a 200-level or higher in any single language. This may be the same language used to satisfy the GE Foreign Language option. (Note that the GE Foreign Language option may require more coursework than this requirement for the English language major.) A language relevant to the historical development of English is strongly recommended, namely Latin, French, German, or classical Greek.

For more information, please visit http://saas.byu.edu/catalog/2013-2014ucat/departments/Linguistics/EnglishLangMajor.php