Our program aims to equip students with a strong foundation in core areas of linguistic analysis and to train students to think critically about a broad range of issues in language use, development, variation, and change.

Faculty interests include Indigenous languages of North America, language development, phonology, semantics, morphosyntax, and typology. We offer a range of courses in general theoretical and descriptive linguistics, as well as coursework leading to a Certificate of Accomplishment in ESL. The Linguistics Program at UM is the only degree-granting unit in Linguistics in Montana. 

Career Options

What Can I Do with a Degree in Linguistics?

A degree in linguistics prepares you for a wide range of jobs and careers. Linguistics is a diverse field intersecting with various other disciplines such as anthropology, computer science, communication, engineering, language teaching, neurology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and speech & hearing science. Studying linguistics helps you develop skills such as analytical and critical thinking, problem solving, organization, and data collection and analysis. 

Language teaching

• second language teaching
• teaching English as a second language
• teaching English in elementary and secondary schools 

Service Industry

• translator
• interpreter
• subtitler

Technical and academic professions

• speech pathologist
• accent coach
• audiologist
• professor
• lawyer
• researcher

Publishing and Writing 

• editor
• lexicographer (dictionary editor/developer)
• publishing
• technical writer

Information technology

• natural language processing
• machine translation
• speech recognition
• speech synthesis
• language data analyst

Other

• librarian
• archivist
• marketing specialist
• web developer 

Advising

Contact Tiana Jensen for academic advising by email (tiana.jensen@mso.umt.edu) or phone (406) 243-2928.