Studying LINGUISTICS at UFS at undergraduate level

• Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Linguists study things like language structure (syntax & morphology), speech sounds (phonology & phonetics), meaning (semantics & pragmatics), sociolinguistics (language contact, language in education, language rights,…), historical linguistics, typology, or applied linguistics  (first or second language acquisition, speech impairments), psycholinguistics…  Linguists also document and describe languages or help speech communities to do so.
• You can take linguistics as a major (as part of the BA General programme) or minor or take linguistics modules as electives.
• Career pathways include:
  • work with dictionaries (lexicography)
  • work for the government
  • work for IT companies (like Google) that hire trained linguists for programming, (machine) translation and multilingual implementations
  • work for an advertising or branding company
  • work on language documentation or conduct fieldwork
  • work in the publishing industry, as a technical writer, or as a journalist
  • work for a testing agency
  • teach a foreign or second language
  • become a consultant on language in professions such as law or medicine
  • become an actor or train actors
  • become an academic (lecturer/researcher)

  Linguistic work specifically need in South Africa includes:

  • work on endangered languages (Khoisan)
  • work on documenting variation
  • work on improving materials (e.g. studying how children learn based on different types of orthographies, varieties used)
  • study language teaching and learning in the South African context
  • work on issues related to language contact, multilingualism and contact languages

Linguistics modules: HLIN1514: Introduction to linguistics

ENGS1624: Critical reading, writing and analysis of texts

HLIN2614: Phonology, morphology, syntax

HLIN2624: Sociology and politics of language

HLIN3718: Semiotics, semantics and pragmatics

ENGS3728: Critical discourse analysis and the study of online communication

Degree pathways including Linguistics:

MAJORS	MINOR	ELECTIVE
Majors to be taken in all 3 academic years:	Students select one minor from the following (to be taken in academic year one and two):	Students choose one elective from the following (subject which has not been chosen as major or minor, to be taken in academic year one, and one semester of academic year two):
Major 1 – compulsory: Linguistics Major 2 – Choose one of: Afrikaans and Dutch English French German* Sesotho (mother tongue) South African Sign Language	Philosophy Language Practice Communication Science	Afrikaans and Dutch Afrikaans (non-mother tongue) Afrikaans for the Professions Communication Science English English Skills French German Language Practice Philosophy Sesotho (mother tongue or non-mother tongue) South African Sign Language

           
Linguistics MUST be taken as a Minor with: Language Practice

Linguistics CAN be taken as a Minor with:
Afrikaans and Dutch; Classical Studies; Communication Science; English; French; German; Greek; Hebrew; Latin; Philosophy; Sesotho (mother tongue); South African Sign Language

Linguistics can be taken as an elective with: Art History and Image Studies History