Linguistics | U-M LSA

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Welcome to U-M Linguistics! The Linguistics Department is a recognized leader for interdisciplinary, innovative approaches to understanding language as a human phenomenon. We regularly earn grants, fellowships, and awards for teaching and research. Our undergraduates excel in a wide range of professions following their time with us. Find out more about us!

Interested in Linguistics research? Visit our research lab page to learn more.

Undergraduate Advising Academic advisors are available and happy to support students with academic and other issues. As of March 13th, all advising will take place virtually or by phone.

Our Values Statement The Linguistics Department strives for academic excellence by fostering an environment of inclusivity, civility, and respect for all individuals, communities and the languages they use. Read the full Values Statement!

State-of-the-art EyeLink 1000+ Remote Eye Tracking system. Learn more about our newest addition to our speech perception lab.

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University Origins

The University of Michigan is located on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe people. In 1817, the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Bodewadami Nations made the largest single land transfer to the University of Michigan. This was offered ceremonially as a gift through the Treaty at the Foot of the Rapids so that their children could be educated. Through these words of acknowledgment, their contemporary and ancestral ties to the land and their contributions to the University are renewed and reaffirmed.

Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi are collectively called Anishnaabemowin and belong to the Algonquian language family.

There are currently 12 recognized Anishnaabeg tribes in the state of Michigan and many Anishnaabe people living throughout the state and interacting at the University of Michigan.

Linguistics at Michigan

The long history of linguistics at the University of Michigan places us among the most prestigious programs in the country. We welcomed our first linguistics professor in 1893 and awarded the first Ph.D. in Linguistics to Florence G. Beall in 1933. The Linguistics Program was established in 1945 and later renamed the Department of Linguistics in 1963. Since that time, thousands of undergraduate majors and hundreds of PhD students have become part of our world-wide community.

Today, Linguistics at the University of Michigan is widely recognized for unusual synergies and interdisciplinarity driven by innovative theoretical, experimental, and field-based research. Our faculty and graduate students are highly successful at grant-funded research and are award-winning scholars and teachers. We have distinctive strengths in speech perception and articulatory phonetics; minimalist syntax; the syntax-semantics interface; and language contact, including documentation, pidgins and creoles, and bilingualism.

We invite you to explore our website to find out more about us. Please contact us if you would like any additional information. We look forward to hearing from you!