<p>What is the linguistics program at Brown like? What are the main specializations? I am interested mainly in psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics. I would like to gain some insight from current or previous students, majors and non-majors alike, about the professors (their specialties, etc.), the way the classes are taught, class size, technological resources, etc.</p>
<p>Additionally, what are the chances of receiving any financial aid from Brown for a family with another child in a private university with a 180 k income (forgive me for talking about money)? I obviously cannot afford Brown with no financial aid, but I feel that the chances of getting even a dime of need-based aid are non-existent.</p>
<p>Brown halves your EFC if you have two in college. It’s pretty rare for someone with 180k in income to get aid, but look at your brother/sister’s college’s EFC calculation, cut it in half, and if that falls below the cost of Brown then you may be getting the difference in aid, likely in the form of subsidized loans.</p>
<p>As for linguistics, I’m pretty sure that we’re essentially replacing the whole faculty in that area right now, but check out both the cognitive science department and psychology department (which are in the process of merging and a lot of faculty searches right now… I think it was 4 faculty searches and 2 or 3 of those going into linguistics). We recently lost our anthropology linguist and they’re not going to be replaced.</p>
<p>I’m a linguistics major! (CogSci/linguistics.) The program is pretty good. Once you’ve done the intro course (survey of general linguistics topics), a class in Syntax, a class in Semantics, and a class in Phonology, it’s free reign. Modestmelody is right in that there’s a huge turnover in that department (our child language acquisition specialist and our computational linguistic are leaving, but both those positions will be replaced).</p>
<p>Since Linguistics at Brown is tied closely to CogSci, the focus of the department is on psycholinguistics and language development. Professors conduct a lot of child and infant language research…</p>
<p>While courses in anthropological and sociolinguistics exist, they are offered primarily through other departments. We’re lacking in historical linguistics, too, but if that’s not your main interest, you should be fine.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your replies! I am looking forward to a conclusion to your “to be continued!” I also welcome any more opinions/experiences/general commentary on the programs at Brown. Is this upset going to be resolved within the next year or so? Will the program still be reputable/strong? I believe that I would greatly enjoy learning about language acquisition. Are there ways for undergraduate students to assist in research?</p>
<p>Undergraduates are integral parts of research across the university.</p>
<p>They should be done hiring new people by the end of this year, and in all likelihood, they’ll be stronger than before. Because of a very competitive market in academic hiring for tenure track positions the candidates who are coming up in job searches right now for any position anywhere are really all top notch. My guess is they’ll have some very promising new people in soon. In general, psych/cog sci is a wonderful place to be right now because the departments have been in constant communication about reforming the undergraduate program and departments as a whole as they slowly become one over the next couple of years. There is a lot of energy around education and excitement around the merger that, while energy consuming, means their eye is definitely on the ball.</p>
<p>It’s about a change in the field. In general, it was quite common for cognitive science departments to branch off from psychology as separate disciplines in the 70s. At Brown, that’s exactly what happened, however, the faculty in these departments have decided that this fissure did not really make sense from a disciplinary perspective and that they all really belong sitting within the same structure. Their research is overlapping, course offerings began to overlap, their methodologies overlapped, etc etc. Eventually, there was no pedagogical or methodological reasons to be separate so they’re combining.</p>
<p>It’s a bit more complex than that, but this was not a larger university decision, it was entirely precipitated by the faculty in these departments. They, in fact, proposed the merge to the administration after they internally voted for it, not vice versa.</p>
<p>(anyone who has more experience with CogSci/Linguistics at Brown, feel free to add on/correct me/give additional opinions; I’m by no means an authority here.)</p>
<p>Research: A fair number of undergrads do research in the department. I’m working a lab, along with several other students who have been involved since their freshman years. I know other first-years working in the department, too. If you’re persistant and get to know the professors, you shouldn’t have a problem. The departmental reorganization is slowing down undergraduate unemployment, but that should be resolved in the next year or two once the new professors have set up camp.</p>
<p>Specializing: I came to Brown as a linguistics concentrator but then realized that there were two main routes out of linguistics, neither of which appealed to me. The first is theory (studying syntax, semantics, etc.), which is fascinating. The second is computational linguistics, which is great if you like CS (computer science). I know a number of linguistics majors taking that path (there’s a lot of exciting research there, actually, so if you want to get involved, definitely consider studying computational linguistics). Since I prefer application to theory and am not a CS person, I decided to look into CogSci. I’m particularly interested in second language acquisition and language learning disorders, both of which lie at the juncture of linguistics and CogSci. Concentrators from both departments often find themselves at this point and end up studying both fields.</p>
<p>For the most part, however, linguistics majors tend to blend theory and application, often by taking a slew of theory-based linguistics courses (higher level phonology, semantics, language and culture, etc.) and CogSci for context of out of interest. Even if they aren’t involved in research directly, they can still conduct their own experiments. It’s a great department. Check the information and course listings: [Department</a> of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences: Brown University](<a href=“http://www.cog.brown.edu%5DDepartment”>http://www.cog.brown.edu)</p>
<p>Thanks! What is your work in the lab like? Do you work with children, people with learning disabilities, and/or something else? How would a major work if one studied cognitive science but wanted to concentrate in linguistics?</p>
<p>By the way, thank all of you guys for your input. After many years of intensive thought, I believe I have found my passion and a direction for my future.</p>
<p>Terribly sorry for the triple post, but what would you say is the MOST significant difference between linguistics, cognitive science, and cognitive neuroscience?</p>
<p>There is a lab that deals with child language acquisition and another with infant language acquisition (with children and infants as subjects, respectively). Many of the CogSci labs use student volunteers as subjects.</p>
<p>The major: You could take classes in both departments and cobble something together. CogSci has a linguistics “track” (an A.B. in CogSci is 13 courses, including seven electives, which one could fill with linguistics courses, and an Sc.B. is an 18-course degree, which could follow a similar plan of action). A Linguistics degree allows for a fair number of electives, all of which could be drawn from the CogSci department. What matters is that you have a cohesive program that your concentration advisor (a professor in the department) approves. Since the departments are tightly knit, I don’t imagine you’d have much trouble.</p>
<p>So the advisors would take care to make sure that I didn’t create such a hodgepodge of courses that I would have no job skills, I assume ;). What fields are you currently considering?</p>
Maybe speech pathology although ideally research.</p>