Linguistics Major - Cognition and Language

NOTE: Students who enrolled at UCSD prior to Fall 2026 have the option to complete their degree under an earlier set of requirements. Please see these details about the old requirements and a list of frequently asked questions.  

• Completion of 12 upper division courses with C- or better (exception: up to four combined units of LIGN-188R, LIGN- 195, or LIGN-199 taken for pass/no pass may count towards the major. In order to satisfy the upper-division course requirements, students who enroll in one of these courses for just two units are advised to enroll for another two units in any of these courses in a subsequent quarter.)
• At least 6 of the 12 major courses must be taken in residence at UC San Diego.

All Linguistics Majors must demonstrate proficiency in one one non-English natural language by one of the following:

1. pass a reading proficiency exam and oral interview administered by the Linguistics department in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi, Tagalog, Portuguese, Vietnamese, or American Sign Language. It may be possible to take a proficiency exam in a language other than these.
2. earn a C- or higher in a course given at UC San Diego representing the fourth quarter of instruction in any non-English natural language.
3. score 4 or higher on the Advanced Placement (AP) exam in a non-English natural language.

Students should consult with the Linguistics Department's Undergraduate Advisors (linginfo-g@ucsd.edu) about this requirement.

Students with native language competence in a language other than English may petition to have English count as satisfying the proficiency requirement.

6 linguistic analysis and breadth courses: 

2 introductory courses in linguistic analysis: 

LIGN-102: Linguistic Analysis: Phonetics, phonology, and morphology

LIGN-103: Linguistic Analysis: Syntax, semantics, and pragmatics

1 introductory course in phonetics, phonology, or morphology from the following list:

LIGN-110: Phonetics

LIGN-111: Phonology I

LIGN-120: Morphology

1 introductory course in syntax, semantics, or pragmatics from the following list:

LIGN-121: Syntax I

LIGN-130: Semantics

LIGN-160: Pragmatics

1 course each from 2 of the 3 following areas (no course may count more than once):

Computational Linguistics

LIGN-117: The Language Code

LIGN-165: Computational Linguistics

LIGN-167: Deep Learning for Natural Language Understanding

LIGN-168: Computational Speech Processing

LIGN-169: Information Theory in Linguistics

Crosslinguistic Variation

LIGN-108: Languages of Africa

LIGN-139: Field Methods

LIGN-141: Language Structures

LIGN-142: Language Typology

LIGN-143: The Structure of Spanish

LIGN-148: The Psycholinguistics of Gesture and Sign Languages

LIGN-152: Indigenous Languages of the Americas

LIGN-177: Multilingualism

Language and Society

LIGN-105: Law & Language

LIGN-146: Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities

LIGN-174: Gender and Language in Society

LIGN-175: Sociolinguistics

LIGN-176: Language of Politics and Advertising

LIGN-177: Multilingualism

LIGN-178: Spanish Sociolinguistics

Four linguistics electives that have not been used to satisfy the Linguistic Analysis and Breadth requirements chosen from:

• LIGN-112: Speech Sounds and Speech Disorders
• LIGN-113: Hearing Sciences and Hearing Disorders
• LIGN-119: First and Second Language Learning: From Childhood Through Adolescence
• LIGN-148: Psycholinguistics of Sign Languages
• LIGN-155: Evolution of Language
• LIGN-165: Computational Linguistics
• LIGN-170: Psycholinguistics
• LIGN-171: Child Language Acquisition
• LIGN-176: Language of Politics and Advertising
• LIGN-179: Second Language Acquisition Research
• LIGN-180: Language Representation in the Brain
• LIGN-181: Language Processing in the Brain

2 additional courses from Linguistics or from the approved list from other departments:

Please check to see if there are prerequisites for these classes.

Anthropology

• ANBI-140: The Evolution of the Human Brain
• ANBI-159: Biological and Cultural Perspectives on Intelligence
• ANBI-173: Cognition in Animals and Humans

Cognitive Science

• COGS-101C: Language
• COGS-102A: Distributed Cognition
• COGS-102B: Cognitive Ethnography
• COGS-107C: Cognitive Neuroscience
• COGS-151: Analogy and Conceptual Systems
• COGS-153: Language Comprehension
• COGS-154: Communication Disorders in Children and Adults
• COGS-156: Language Development
• COGS-158: Bilingual Minds and Brains
• COGS-170: Natural and Artificial Symbolic Representational Systems
• COGS-184: Modeling the Evolution of Cognition

Philosophy

• PHIL-120: Symbolic Logic I
• PHIL-122: Advanced Topics in Logic
• PHIL-123: Philosophy of Logic
• PHIL-134: Philosophy of Language
• PHIL-136: Philosophy of Mind
• PHIL-150: Philosophy of the Cognitive Sciences

Psychology

• PSYC-102: Sensory Neuroscience
• PSYC-105: Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
• PSYC-145: Psychology of Language