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.

Linguistics 1 and 11 are fully online. They have asynchronous (not at a set time) lectures and synchronous (at a set time) discussions. Lecture recordings are available throughout the quarter.

Courses usually offered every quarter are Linguistics 1, 20, 102 or 103, 119A or 120A, 120B, 165B, and 185A. 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 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 2026:

The enrollment restrictions for the courses listed below will be removed when the second enrollment pass begins, Thursday, February 19, 2026, 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.
        • LING 120C will only be open to 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.
        • LING 132 will only be open to junior and senior students declared in the following majors during the priority and first enrollment passes: Linguistics and Psychology.

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 2026

  • 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.

  • LING 120A - Phonology I

    Instructor(s): Thomas Motter

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisites: courses 20, 102 or 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 165A - Phonology II

    Instructor(s): Jonah Katz

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisite: course 119A or 120A. To be taken in term following completion of course 119A or 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 185A - Computational Linguistics I

    Instructor(s): Laurel Perkins

    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 170 - Language and Society: Sociolinguistic Analysis

    Instructor(s): Daria Bahtina

    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 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 M141 - Current Methods of Language Teaching

    Instructor(s): Michael Chamberlain

    (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 C135 - Neurolinguistics

    Instructor(s): John Duff

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisites: courses 20, 119A or 120A, 119B or 120B. Examination of relationship between brain, language, and linguistic theory, with evidence presented from atypical language development and language disorders in the mature brain. Topics include methodologies to investigate normal and atypical hemispheric specialization for language and children and adults with acquired and/or congenital language disorders. Concurrently scheduled with course C235. 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 120C - Semantics I

    Instructor(s): Giuseppina Silvestri

    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 120B - Syntax I

    Instructor(s): Michelle Yuan

    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 119A - Applied Phonology

    Instructor(s): Elise Bell

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Enforced requisites: courses 20, and 102 or 103. Not open for credit to students with credit for course 120A. Sound structures and sound patterns in world's languages. Rules, rule ordering, features, syllable, and higher structure. Comparison of sound patterns of different languages. Tools of phonology as applicable to other fields. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING M116 - Introduction to Japanese Linguistics

    Instructor(s): No assigned instructor

  • LING 115 - Linguistics and Speech Pathology

    Instructor(s): No assigned instructor

  • LING C111 - Intonation

    Instructor(s): Sun-ah Jun

    (Formerly numbered 111.) Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisites: courses 102 or 103, and 119A or 120A or 120B. Recommended requisite: course C104. Survey of intonational theory for English and other languages, with particular emphasis on phonological models of intonation. Students learn to transcribe intonational elements. Concurrently scheduled with course C211. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING 110 - Introduction to Historical Linguistics

    Instructor(s): Thomas Motter

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisites: courses 20, 102 or 103, 119A or 120A. Methods and theories appropriate to historical study of language, such as comparative method and method of internal reconstruction. Sound change, grammatical change, semantic change. P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING 105 - Morphology

    Instructor(s): Michelle Yuan

    Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Enforced requisite: course 20. In linguistics, morphology is study of word structure. Morphological theory seeks to answer questions such as how should words and their component parts (roots, prefixes, suffixes, vowel changes) be classified crosslinguistically? how do speakers store, produce, and process complex words (words with affixes, compounds)? how do speakers know how to produce correct word forms even when they have not previously heard them and how do speakers know that particular words are well-formed or ill-formed? is there principled distinction in traditional division between inflection and derivation? how can we best account for variation in forms that are same (e.g., root in keep/kept even though vowels are different)? can we formulate crosslinguistic generalizations about word structure? P/NP or letter grading.

  • LING 102 - Introduction to Applied Phonetics

    Instructor(s): Sylvia Cho

    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 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 M4 - Language and Evolution

    Instructor(s): John Clayton

    (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 1 - Introduction to Study of Language

    Instructor(s): Giuseppina Silvestri, Corrina Fuller

    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.

  • ASL 2 - Elementary American Sign Language

    Instructor(s): Benjamin Lewis

    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

    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.