The major combines the basic courses of the general linguistics program with that of computer science, accommodating students who want professional preparation in computer science but do not necessarily have a strong interest in computer systems hardware. The goal of linguistics is the enrichment of knowledge about the nature, grammar, and history of human language. Linguistics is a theoretical discipline, akin to philosophy, anthropology, and cognitive psychology.

Transfer applicants to the Linguistics and Computer Science major with 90 or more units must complete as many of the following introductory courses as possible prior to admission to UCLA: one introduction to linguistics course, two calculus courses, four computer programming courses, and two years of one foreign language or one year in each of two foreign languages. One discrete structures course and one probability theory course are recommended. Refer to the <a href="https://admission.ucla.edu/apply/transfer">UCLA transfer admission guide</a> for up-to-date information regarding transfer selection for admission.

Required: Linguistics 20, Computer Science 31, 32, 33, 35L, Mathematics 31A or 31AL, 31B, 61, 70, completion of the third term in one foreign language.

Required: Eleven upper-division courses as follows: Linguistics 102 (or 103), 119A (or 120A), 120B, 120C, 165A (or 165B or 165C), 185A, one course selected from 104, 127, 132, 165A, 165B, 165C, 180, 185B; Computer Science 131, 132 or 161, 180, 181.

Departmental honors are awarded at graduation to those students who have a grade-point average of 3.6 or better in their junior and senior years and who have received a grade of A in Linguistics 198A and 198B or in 199. Qualified students may be proposed by any member of the faculty to the faculty as a whole for the award of highest honors on the basis of a piece of research in linguistics completed at UCLA.

A 2.0 grade-point average in linguistics courses is required for the major.

College of Letters and Science

Ability to apply critical thinking skills through linguistic data analysis in phonetics, phonology, syntax, and at least one other subfield

Understanding of human language systems as computational devices

Ability to write technical material in linguistics, including language description and theory-based analysis

Understanding of fundamental concepts applicable to engineering problems in natural language processing

Understanding of advanced theoretical concepts and/or analytical techniques in at least one subfield

Ability to access scholarly literature on language structure and use it in research

General Catalog

Linguistics and Computer Science BA