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