Department of Linguistics | Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Linguistics is the study of language. Linguists study the sounds of language, how words are built, how sentences are constructed, and what words and sentences mean. We also study how language is learned and processed in our minds and brains, how it is used in social-cultural contexts and how it changes over time. At SIUC we focus in particular on ways second languages can be taught more effectively as well as traditional studies in linguistics.

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Fall 2011
Spring 2012 Course Schedule

Click here to see the list of courses offered in Linguistics this spring.

Spring '11
Linguistics Undergrad Presents Research at "Posters on the Hill" conference, and takes third place at STLAURS.
Linguistics Undergraduate Student, Derrick Langwith, was as selected by the Council on Undergraduate Research as one of 74 undergraduate students IN THE COUNTRY to present his research at the prestigious Posters on the Hill conference in Washington, D.C.in April, 2011. He also won third place at the St. Louis Aread Undergraduate Research Symposium in May, 2011. Read more

Spring '11
Peggy Stockdale appointed as Chair of the Linguistics Department
Following a College-wide search, Psychology Professor, Peggy Stockdale, was selected as the permanent Chair of the Linguistics Department. Read More

Derreck Langwith,
Undergraduate Student

Derreck Langwith, a first-generation college student, Sparta, IL native and senior in linguistics, is an example of a local Southern Illinoisan moving up and on to the big city. Read More

Dr. Paul McPherron
Faculty Member

Dr. Paul McPherron, Assistant Professor of Linguistics, was recently invited to give a keynote talk at the Purdue Graduate Student Forum in April 2011. Read More

Mark Algren
Alumni

TESOL President and SIU alum Mark Algren and twenty other loyal alumni, from places as far away as Indonesia, UAE and Macao, reunited at the annual TESOL Conference in New Orleans. Read More

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