Disciplines
General and Descriptive Linguistics
General Linguistics
Linguistics concerns itself with the fundamental questions of what language is and how it is related to other human faculties. In answering these questions, linguists consider language as a cultural, social, and psychological phenomenon and seek to determine what is unique in languages, what is universal, how language is acquired, and how it changes. Linguistics is, therefore, one of the cognitive sciences; it provides a link between the humanities and the social sciences, as well as education and hearing and speech sciences.
Descriptive Linguistics
Descriptive linguistics is a branch of linguistics that studies how languages are structured. Research is undertaken in a wide variety of languages, especially American Indian languages. The American Indian Languages Program (AILP) is one of the few in the United States that offers study and research opportunities in indigenous languages of the Americas. We also offer a graduate program in Hispanic linguistics. This long-standing program incorporates a broad area of research and training in this growing and dynamic field.
American Indian Linguistics
The American Indian Languages Program (AILP) is one of the few in the United States that offers study and research opportunities in indigenous languages of the Americas. Pitt's AILP is unparalleled in two respects. First, faculty members who teach courses directly related to the AILP have extensive field experience with American Indian languages. AILP students, too, have opportunities for field work. Second, the AILP is able to offer a wide selection of linguistic subdisciplines and theories, all taught by faculty with publications in the relevant area. AILP students are able to take courses at the BA, MA, and PhD levels, leading to departmental certification in American Indian languages.