If you study linguistics in university...?

Question

since you don't actually study a particular language, just languages in general, do you have to know more than one language to study it? or it is okay if you just know english?

Answer 1

If we ignore college requirements for linguistics programs and talk just about the act of studying linguistics then: NO, you do not necessarily need to know another foreign language to begin studying linguistics. If you use a few good introductory texts which draw from real language examples in an accessible way, you can begin studying linguistics and learn the basic theory and some real world applications. A good introductory text I'd recommend is "Language Files" published by Ohio State University (currently in its 10th edition).

Having said that, studying a language, especially one that is considerably different from your native language, can reinforce your study of linguistics and make certain linguistic theories easier to understand. Even if you study a dead language, like Latin or Classic Greek, you can gain some benefit by seeing how another language arranges its nouns or verbs in different ways from your own. When you know only your own language, you take all of its features and the subconscious rules for language in the human brain for granted. Linguistics makes you aware of these features and rules, but learning another language can throw them in even sharper relief for you.

Now, if you intend to get a degree in linguistics, requirements for language study will vary from college to college, or program to program. Some may not require language study beyond what is required for all students at the college for general education. Others, like Ohio State University, seem to have an advanced language study requirement.

If your degree program is concentrated on a particular language, language family or culture, such as University of Southern California's B.A. with minor in Arabic/Middle East studies, you will probably have to study a particular language as requirement.

On the other hand, some programs, such as Moody Bible Institute's B.A. in Applied Linguistics, are geared toward a particular line of work but not a particular language family and do not require advanced language study beyond what is studied in a field methods course.