As a linguistics major, you will find lots of opportunities to engage with fellow students, professors, local communities and workplaces, and even the world!
Yinzling
Yinzling is the undergraduate linguistics club here at Pitt. We are a completely student-run organization that holds regular monthly meetings on campus. Meetings consist of graduate speakers, undergraduate speakers, foreign film nights, and more. Two or three times a term we also have free coffee breaks with the department, where students can get to know faculty and grad students while enjoying free coffee. The name "Yinzling" means "your language." It comes from "yinz (yunz)," which is Pittsburghese for "you all" and "ling," which is short for "language." For more information or to join our mailing list, e-mail us. Visit us on our web site, and we also are on Facebook.
Pitt Python Linguistics Group (PyLing)
The Pitt Python Linguistics Group, PyLing for short, is a group of computationally-minded linguists around Pitt and also CMU. It is open to faculty, graduate students and undergrad students who like using Python, a popular programming language, in their research and other projects. A typical meeting includes a Python tutorial, a presentation on a computational linguistic topic, or a Python programming challenge. We occasionally welcome guest speakers and enjoy field trips. Please checkout the Facebook PyLing group page and email Na-Rae Han if you are interested in joining.
Language Clubs
There are many foreign-language clubs on campus you can join. The ASL Club and the Arabic Club in particular are run by linguistics students. There may be more clubs available through the Less-Commonly-Taught-Languages Center. Ask your instructor or, better yet, create one!
Internships and Volunteering Opportunities
There are many opportunities to engage with various job sites around Pittsburgh. If you are interested in internships, contact Abdesalam Soudi, our department's internship coordinator. You can get course credit while working with a local employer through LING 1900 Linguistic Consulting/Internship. If you are interested in ESL teaching experience, you can volunteer to lead a TalkTime discussion group or be a Conversation Partner with the international students in the English Language Institute (ELI). Opportunities may also be available to teach a Community Conversation Course (CCC). Contact elipitt@pitt.edu for more information about these ESL teaching opportunities. Your advisor and professors/instructors specializing in a particular area may also know of similar opportunities, so be sure to ask around. Pitt's Career Development and Placement Assistance is another excellent resource.
Research Experience
We encourage our undergraduate majors to participate in research. Many opportunities are available, such as LING 1903 Directed Research and First Experience in Research. You can work with faculty or graduate students. There are many linguistics conferences for undergraduates to participate in as well.
Study Abroad
Many of our students participate in Pitt's Study Abroad program. Faculty and graduate students in our department lead several of these programs such as Comparative Sign Language in London and Pitt in Bolivia: Linguistics and Languages as well as programs in Tanzania, Sweden, Greece, Spain, and more!