Linguistics Program

The interdisciplinary and interdepartmental Major/Minor in Linguistics acknowledges the fundamental importance of language in our lives. The major/minor provides students with basic knowledge of the main pillars of linguistics: syntax, morphology, phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics.

By introducing the Major/Minor in Linguistics we also honor Gordon's most famous alumnus, Kenneth Pike, one of the founding fathers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics and former chair of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Michigan.  Pike developed his well-known system of etic and emic (the second half of the words phonetic and phonemic respectively), in which the former represents the viewpoint of the "detached observer," and the latter that of the "normal participant."  He stressed that this system could be applied to related fields such as second language teaching/learning, the understanding of a culture not one's own, as well as to philosophical issues dealing with the perception of reality.  By combining the etic and emic viewpoints, each only two-dimensional when used alone, one gains a three-dimensional or "stereoscopic" view of reality. As Pike puts it, "It is here, then, that the justification lies for giving linguistic lectures to students whose primary interest is not language. It helps to provide to all a stereoscopic window on the world." 

The Major/Minor will be housed in the Department of Languages and Linguistics, but, in the true interdisciplinary spirit, it will also include courses in the departments of English, Bible, Philosophy, Psychology, Education, and Communication Arts.