Undergraduate Courses

List of courses offered by the Linguistics Department.

To see if a class meets in the current quarter, as well as the time and location, go to the Linguistics Department’s Course Schedule page.

Courses usually offered every quarter are Linguistics 1, 20, 102 or 103, 119A or 120A, 120B. Most other courses may be offered one or two quarters. An internal tentative Linguistics course offerings list for the following academic year is made available at the end of May or early June of the preceding academic year.

Important information about course enrollment:

  • PTE numbers for LING 1 will not be distributed under any circumstances. If you would like to try to secure a spot in a particular quarter but the course is already full, please continue to monitor the waitlist. It is possible for seats to open up as students decide to drop the class. Otherwise, the class is offered every quarter, including the summer.
  • PTE numbers for LING, ASL, or SWAHILI courses, except LING 1, are distributed at the instructor’s discretion and students will need to contact the instructor(s) directly. Staff do not distribute PTE numbers.
    • Distributing PTE numbers for LING 20 are at the instructor’s discretion and are rarely distributed.
    • As noted above, PTE numbers for LING 1 will not be distributed under any circumstances.
  • LING courses which have an enrollment restriction will have the restriction removed when the second enrollment pass begins, allowing any student to enroll or join the waitlist, space permitting. Please note that having a priority enrollment pass does not bypass the enrollment restriction. If the course is full by the time of the second enrollment pass, we recommend that students keep an eye on enrollment numbers as students who enrolled or on the waitlist may drop the class before instruction starts.
    • For Spring 2025: The enrollment restrictions for the courses listed below will be removed when the second enrollment pass begins, February 20, 2025, allowing any student to enroll or join the waitlist, space permitting.
      • LING 20 will only be open to students declared in the following majors during the priority and first enrollment passes: any of the Linguistics majors, Asian Languages and Linguistics, Spanish and Linguistics, and Cognitive Science.
      • LING 102, 120A, and 120B will only be open to junior and senior students declared in the following majors during the priority and first enrollment passes: any of the Linguistics majors, Asian Languages and Linguistics, Spanish and Linguistics, and Cognitive Science.

Frequently Asked Questions:

How big are UCLA Linguistics courses?
The majority of required linguistics courses for the majors are capped at 40 students per lecture, with the exception of Linguistics 1, 20, 102, 119A, and 120B.
Who do I contact for assistance with course planning?
Please refer to the Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer for guidance with course planning for the major.
Can I take major requirements as pass/no pass?
Only foreign language requirements may be taken for Pass/No Pass grading. All other preparation for the major and upper-division major requirements must be taken for a letter grade. *Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, exceptions have been made to this policy. Please visit the majors/minor page to view the memos outlining these exceptions.
Can I take preparation for the major requirements at a community college or other university?
Yes, however, you must first consult with the Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer if you plan to take courses at another college or university for approval and confirmation.
I completed a course for my major, but it does not appear on my degree audit report. What do I do?
Please send an email to the Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer to address this inquiry. Include your university ID number and the course information in the email.
The course I want to take has an enrollment restriction. What do I do?
LING courses which have an enrollment restriction will have the restriction removed when the second enrollment pass begins, allowing any student to enroll or join the waitlist, space permitting. Please note that having a priority enrollment pass does not bypass the enrollment restriction. If the course is full by the time of the second enrollment pass, we recommend that students keep an eye on enrollment numbers as students who enrolled or on the waitlist may drop the class before instruction starts.

Please see the information above regarding the affected courses. Students who want a Permission to Enroll (PTE) number to bypass the enrollment restriction will need to contact the instructor directly. The Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer and department staff do not distribute PTE numbers. We strongly recommend that students wait until their second enrollment pass before requesting a PTE number from the instructor as seats may still be available by that time. If an instructor agrees to provide a PTE number, it will bypass any enrollment restriction and the enrollment capacity.

I am in a Linguistics-related major but why am I not able to enroll during my priority or first enrollment pass?
The “Linguistics-related majors” enrollment restriction includes students declared in the following majors: any of the Linguistics majors, Asian Languages and Linguistics, Spanish and Linguistics, and Cognitive Science. Please note that some courses may also be restricted to juniors and seniors in a Linguistics-related major.

Please see the information above regarding the affected courses. Students who want a Permission to Enroll (PTE) number to bypass the enrollment restriction will need to contact the instructor directly. The Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer and department staff do not distribute PTE numbers. We strongly recommend that students wait until their second enrollment pass before requesting a PTE number from the instructor as seats may still be available by that time. If an instructor agrees to provide a PTE number, it will bypass any enrollment restriction and the enrollment capacity.

Can I get a Permission to Enroll (PTE) number?
PTE numbers for LING, ASL, or SWAHILI courses, except LING 1, are distributed at the instructor’s discretion and students will need to contact the instructor(s) directly. The Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer and department staff do not distribute PTE numbers. PTE numbers for LING 1 will not be distributed under any circumstances.

Spring 2025

  • ASL 1 - Elementary American Sign Language

    Instructor(s): Jennifer Marfino

    Lecture, five hours. Introduction to fundamentals of American sign language. P/NP or letter grading.

  • ASL 2 - Elementary American Sign Language

    Instructor(s): Jennifer Marfino

    Lecture, five hours. Enforced requisite: course 1. Introduction to fundamentals of American sign language. P/NP or letter grading.

  • ASL 3 - Elementary American Sign Language

    Instructor(s): Benjamin Lewis, Jennifer Marfino

    Lecture, five hours. Enforced requisite: course 2. Introduction to fundamentals of American sign language. P/NP or letter grading.

  • ASL 6 - Intermediate American Sign Language

    Instructor(s): Benjamin Lewis

    Lecture, five hours. Enforced requisite: course 5. Intermediate American sign language. P/NP or letter grading.

  • ASL M187 - Special Topics in Disability Studies and Deaf Studies

    Instructor(s): Benjamin Lewis

    (Same as Disability Studies M187D.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Variable topics in disability studies and deaf studies. Topics may include art and literature; autism and ableism; dance and music; Deaflympics; history; policy; race, gender, and sexuality; and technology. May be repeated for credit with topic and/or instructor change. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING 1 - Introduction to Study of Language

    Instructor(s): William Torrence

    Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Summary for general undergraduates of what is known about human language; biological basis of language, scientific study of language and human cognition; uniqueness of human language, its structure, universality, its diversity; language in social and cultural setting; language in relation to other aspects of human inquiry and knowledge. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING M4 - Language and Evolution

    Instructor(s): John Clayton, Nicholas Guymon

    (Same as Indo-European Studies M70.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Homo Sapiens is only species on Earth with capacity to create infinite number of utterances from small inventory of speech sounds. How and why our species developed this ability is question of fundamental scientific and humanistic importance. Survey of origin of human language from number of intellectual perspectives, including linguistics, anthropology, and evolutionary biology. Exploration of relationship between language faculty and linguistic theory. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING 20 - Introduction to Linguistic Analysis

    Instructor(s): Anoop Mahajan

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Introduction to theory and methods of linguistics: universal properties of human language; phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic structures and analysis; nature and form of grammar. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING 102 - Introduction to Applied Phonetics

    Instructor(s): Elise Bell

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Enforced requisite: course 20. Not open for credit to students with credit for course 103. Basics of articulation and acoustics of phonetic categories used in world's languages, including English in comparison with other languages. Practice in speech-sound perception and transcription using International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Applications to language learning/teaching and other fields. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING 119A - Applied Phonology

    Instructor(s): No assigned instructor

  • LING 120A - Phonology I

    Instructor(s): Kie Zuraw

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisites: courses 20, 103. Introduction to phonological theory and analysis. Rules, representations, underlying forms, derivations. Justification of phonological analyses. Emphasis on practical skills with problem sets. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING 120B - Syntax I

    Instructor(s): Michelle Yuan, Thomas Motter

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Enforced requisite: course 20. Course 120A is not requisite to 120B. Descriptive analysis of morphological and syntactic structures in natural languages; emphasis on insight into nature of such structures rather than linguistics formalization. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING 120C - Semantics I

    Instructor(s): Yael Sharvit

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisite: course 119B or 120B. Survey of most important theoretical and descriptive claims about nature of meaning. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING 130 - Language Development

    Instructor(s): Thomas Motter

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisites: courses 20, 119A or 120A, 119B or 120B. Survey of research and theoretical perspectives in language development in children. Discussion and examination of child language data from English and other languages. Emphasis on universals of language development. Topics include infant speech perception and production, development of phonology, morphology, syntax, and word meaning. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING 132 - Language Processing

    Instructor(s): Jesse Harris

    Lecture, four hours; laboratory, one hour (when scheduled). Requisites: courses 20, 119A or 120A, 119B or 120B. Central issues in language comprehension and production, with emphasis on how theories in linguistics inform processing models. Topics include word understanding (with emphasis on spoken language), parsing, anaphora and inferencing, speech error models of sentence production, and computation of syntactic structure during production. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING C140 - Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition

    Instructor(s): Giuseppina Silvestri

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisites: courses 119A or 120A, 119B or 120B. Introduction to study of childhood bilingualism and adult and child second language (L2) acquisition, with focus on understanding nature of L2 grammar and grammatical processes underlying L2/bilingual acquisition. Discussion of neurolinguistic and social aspects of bilingualism. Concurrently scheduled with course C244. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING M141 - Current Methods of Language Teaching

    Instructor(s): Laila Hualpa

    (Same as English Composition M141.) Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: course 20. Survey of theory and practice in teaching second languages, including (1) past and present methods used to teach second languages, (2) current theory and practice underlying skills-based instruction and integrated approaches, and (3) factors that affect second language acquisition and learning. Development of knowledge base in and rational base for design, development, implementation, and evaluation of second language instruction programs. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING M146 - Language in Culture

    Instructor(s): Erin Debenport

    (Same as Anthropology M150.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour; fieldwork, two hours. Requisite: course 20 or Anthropology 4. Study of language as aspect of culture; relation of habitual thought and behavior to language; and language and classification of experience. Holistic approach to study of language, with emphasis on relationship of linguistic anthropology to fields of biological, cultural, and social anthropology, as well as archaeology. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING 165A - Phonology II

    Instructor(s): Jonah Katz

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisite: course 120A. To be taken in term following completion of course 120A or as soon as possible thereafter. Further study in phonological theory and analysis: autosegmental theory, syllable structure, metrical theory, interface of phonology and grammar. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING 165B - Syntax II

    Instructor(s): Ethan Poole

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisite: course 120B. To be taken in term following completion of course 120B or as soon as possible thereafter. Recommended for students who plan to do graduate work in linguistics. Form of grammars, word formation, formal and substantive universals in syntax, relation between syntax and semantics. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING 170 - Language and Society: Introduction to Sociolinguistics

    Instructor(s): Giuseppina Silvestri

    (Formerly numbered M170.) Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisite: course 20. Study of patterned covariation of language and society; social dialects and social styles in language; problems of multilingual societies. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING M176B - Structure of Japanese

    Instructor(s): Michiko Kaneyasu

    (Same as Japanese CM123.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: Japanese 4 or 10 or Japanese placement test. Functional linguistic analysis of grammatical structures of Japanese, often in form of contrastive analysis of Japanese, English, and other languages. Letter grading.

  • LING 185A - Computational Linguistics I

    Instructor(s): Dylan Bumford

    Lecture, four hours; laboratory, one hour. Requisites: courses 120B, Program in Computing 10C (or Computer Science 32). Recommended: course 165B or 200B. Overview of formal computational ideas underlying kinds of grammars used in theoretical linguistics and psycholinguistics, and some connections to applications in natural language processing. Topics include recursion, relationship between probabilities and grammars, and parsing algorithms. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING 185B - Computational Linguistics II

    Instructor(s): Laurel Perkins

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisite: course 185A. Extension of material in course 185A, with emphasis on computational analysis of current tools and frameworks used in linguistic theory and their cognitive interpretations. P/NP or letter grading.

  • SWAHILI 3 - Elementary Swahili

    Instructor(s): Sephrine Achesah

    Lecture, five hours. Enforced requisite: course 2. Major language of East Africa, particularly Tanzania. P/NP or letter grading.