EAC explores linguistics minor

Author: Chris Knapp

A committee of Middlebury College faculty members has proposed the creation of a linguistics program at the College, which, if approved, would come into existence beginning with the 2006-2007 academic year.

The College currently offers a number of classes in linguistics which enjoy substantial and growing enrollment. In response to rising demand, a committee, made up of six faculty members with backgrounds in the field, was appointed last spring by the Foreign Language Division to explore different options for a formalized program of linguistic studies. After some deliberation, the committee submitted their proposal to the Educational Affairs Committee (EAC), requesting the establishment of a linguistics minor.

"We want to walk before we run," said Visiting Assistant Professor of German Mark Southern, who sat on the committee. "We gathered a lot of information and took into consideration quite a number of factors, and we all agreed that a minor would be a place to start. We want to begin by enabling undergraduate students at Middlebury to establish a formal background in linguistic studies."

Southern is one of three members of the committee and one of six Middlebury faculty members with a doctorate in linguistics. The College may require a minimal increase in faculty to accommodate the program the committee has proposed.

Already a significant number of students have made linguistics the central focus of their studies at Middlebury through the Independent Scholarship program. Southern estimates that there are currently around 10 independent scholars studying linguistics, compared to three or four when he came to Middlebury just two years ago. Last year, he said, Middlebury undergraduates gave talks at national linguistic conferences.

"It's a very egalitarian field," he said. "The amount we know about language is very small compared to the amount we don't know, which is one of the reasons it's so exciting to study. If you're motivated, its relatively easy to make a contribution."

Southern is optimistic about the program's prospects, citing the immense enthusiasm on the part of students involved. "More than anywhere else I've been," he said, "Middlebury is an institution that pays remarkable attention to the voice of its student body." He hopes the rapidly growing interest in linguistics that the College has seen in the last few years will provide ample justification for the EAC to approve the program.

The continually broadening interest in linguistics is a phenomenon Southern attributes to the multi-faceted appeal of the subject itself. "There are so many approaches to linguistics," he said. "Some people are interested in the brain and cognition, for example, while others study the structure and formation of language itself. The study of linguistics deeply enriches our understanding of areas like literature or culture or history."

He added that "linguistics is a very self-selective field. Typically, the students who are interested don't require much more motivation than their own personal intellectual curiosity." The students at Middlebury fit this description especially well, he said. "The work they've done alone makes a convincing case for the creation of a linguistics program."

Members of the EAC say that they will be considering the program for approval shortly.