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Department of Linguistics

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Undergraduate Degrees

Bachelor of Arts Degree Requirements

Be sure to consult your general catalog for additional information, major requirements and course descriptions.

Watch the info session for the BA in Linguistics here.

Linguistics Major

Catalog: Department of Linguitics Apply now

The B.A. program in Linguistics is diversified but integrated. Four options are currently available. In each option, students receive a basic grounding in the nature and structure of human language by taking a common core of classes. The linguistics bachelor of arts degree requires 36-54 units in the major, depending on the option.

General Linguistics

Catalog: General Linguistics Option, B.A.

Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL)

Catalog: TESOL/SLAT Option, B.A.

Computational Linguistics

What is Computational Linguistics? Catalog: Computational Linguistics Option, B.A.

Interdisciplinary Language Studies

Catalog: Interdisciplinary Language Studies Option, B.A.

 

 

Bachelor of Science Degree in Cognitive Science

Director: Sean Fulop, Professor of Linguistics

Cognitive Science is an emerging field that brings together various approaches to the study of human cognition, drawing from psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy and computer science. Historically, study in Cognitive Science has been conducted within these traditional disciplines and such study still represents important areas of research, as in cognitive psychology within psychology or artificial intelligence within computer science. However, increasingly many researchers and practitioners are feeling a need for a background that integrates basic knowledge in the foundational disciplines and prepares them to work across academic fields.

The Cognitive Science major and minor at Fresno State are broad-based multi-disciplinary programs that are designed to respond to this need. Fresno State's Cognitive Science program builds on a wide range of resources - faculty, courses, facilities - that are distributed across the University. Our associated faculty are active in multiple research areas and are eager to incorporate hand's-on, rich and productive research work into the undergraduate experience. The major is intended as a complement rather than a substitute to traditional disciplinary degrees. For the most part, the degree is built on courses that provide core knowledge of the foundational disciplines. These courses generally include the core courses for the respective departmental programs. However, Cognitive Science majors are also expected to gain specialized knowledge beyond the basic introductory work. The core courses include statistics and research methods in psychology, advanced programming techniques in computer science, computational linguistics, philosophy of mind and cognitive neuroscience.

Catalog: Cognitive Science, B.S.

The general objectives for the B.S. in Cognitive Science are to develop and provide a thorough foundation in the study of cognitive science, drawing in perspectives from computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and psychology; to provide a foundation in cognitive science with which students will be able to pursue graduate education in cognitive science, computer science, linguistics, philosophy, psychology, or related fields; and to provide a foundation for the pursuit of jobs in business and industry where a multidisciplinary background is highly desirable.

The primary instructional objectives of the B.S. in Cognitive Science are to give an education in recent approaches to cognition and cognitive science and to give an overview of current methodologies used within cognitive science, including those methodologies used in the core disciplines of computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and psychology.

General Education

Catalog: General Education

The Cognitive Science program at CSU Fresno requires 120 total semester units for graduation. As a part of your total units, 48 are required in General Education. Three (3) General Education requirements may be shared with the Cognitive Sciences program as it is designed (PSYCH 10, 126 and PHIL 151).

Cognitive Science, is an interdisciplinary science (encompassing several disciplines). The staff with individual, relating, specialties are spread across the deptarments involving the separate disciplines.

With this in mind, it especially emphasizes the purpose behind General Education courses being an integral part of your education.

A quote from the university catalog ...

The overall objective of General Education is to create a context wherein basic skills are developed and strengthened, scholarship and disciplined thinking emerge, awareness and reflection occur, and ultimately - the integration of knowledge begins.
Cognitive Science is specialized in that it brings together many topical areas, such as what the mind does in the learning process.

Just some food for thought, and advice to keep in mind throughout college (for new & seasoned college students):

Any class you may not like, but have to take, can have value! What is the value to You?

The most mundane or boring "just take it and get it over with" General Education class can, does and will relate to past, present or future education and life experience, in "General."

Faculty

Brian Agbayani

PhD, Linguistics, UC Irvine
Professor, Department of Linguistics
Office: Peters Business, #416
Phone: 559.278.4892
E-mail: bagbayan
Website: https://brianagbayani.weebly.com/
Research Interests: Generative Grammar, Syntactic Theory, Comparative Syntax

Jidong Chen

PhD, Linguistics, Max Planck Institute Nijmegen, NL
Professor, Department of Linguistics
Office: Peters Business #421
Email: jchen
Website: https://jidongchenchen.weebly.com/

Sean Fulop

PhD, Linguistics, UCLA
Professor, Department of Linguistics
Office: Peters Business, #423
Phone: 559.278.4896
E-mail: sfulop
Website: https://seanfulop.weebly.com/
Research Interests: Acoustic Phonetics, Computational Linguistics, Algorithmic Learning Theory

Chris Golston

PhD, UCLA
Professor, Department of Linguistics
Office: Peters Business, #383
Office Hours / Schedule Link
Phone: 559.278.2136
E-mail: chrisg
Website: https://chrisgolston.weebly.com/
Research Interests: Generative Grammar, Syntactic Theory, Comparative Syntax

Lorin Lachs

PhD, Psychology / Cognitive Science, Indiana University
Professor of Psychology
Office: Science 2, #356
Office Hours / Schedule Link
Phone: 559.278.2691
E-mail: llachs
Website: http://psych.csufresno.edu/llachs/
Research Interests: Speech Perception, Psycholinguistics, Spoken Word Recognition

Matthew Sharps

PhD, Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder
Professor, Department of Psychology
Office: Science 2, #340
Office Hours / Schedule Link
Phone: 559.278.2347
E-mail: matthews
Website: http://psych.csufresno.edu/sharps/
Research Interests: Visual Cognition, Representational Theory, Cognition in Forensic Contexts, Cognitive Aging

Related Topics

The Cognitive Science program at CSU Fresno falls under the category of a "Special Program," because it is multidisciplinary. There are instructors and courses involved in the following departments across campus:

  • Psychology
  • Linguistics
  • Computer Science
  • Philosophy
  • Communicative Disorders and Deaf Studies
  • Information Systems and Decision Sciences

The last two, CDDS and ISDS, would be the most difficult programs to mix and match with Cognitive Science. Only one (1) course in either department crosses-over, as the program is designed right now. (At this point in time; the wonderful thing about Cognitive Science is that it bridges gaps, and things can be 're-arranged.')

The first four departments (Psychology, Linguistics, Philosophy and Computer Science) present an easy way of Majoring in Cognitive Science and easily working toward a minor in one of these areas; or visa-versa, pursuing a Major in one of these 4 areas, and seeking a minor in Cognitive Science.

If this interests you, check with the current Cognitive Sciences Chairperson (rotating among involved professors) for more information. (As of Fall 2008, Dr. Lorin Lachs in the Psychology department.)

Research Related to Cognitive Science

Interested in doing research? You can Help! Get a jump start towards a career, or graduate education.

Sean Fulop of the Linguistics department is currently working on connections between the mathematical theory of learning and empirical cognitive science.

Lorin Lachs of the Psychology department is working on speech perception phenomena and what these reveal about cognition.