What do J.R.R. Tolkien and Noam Chomsky have in common? It is not a trick question: Both were notably involved in linguistics, the systematic study of language.
While Tolkien is perhaps most famous as a fantasy writer and some people are more familiar with Chomsky for his political ideologies, their individual careers help to illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of the field.
Linguistics at the University reflects this nature as it is a program and not an actual department.
Students here have a chance to learn about different disciplinary perspectives, Anthropology Prof. Lise Dobrin said.
"Each field has its own methodology," she said.
Besides studying the formal properties of language, like sounds, syntax and semantics, students discover its applications in fields like socio- and psycholinguistics.
"The well-rounded nature of the program prepares one for critical analysis," Linguistics Program Director Emily Scida said.
While lacking some of the funding and fellowship opportunities of a formal department, the current setup offers the chance to experience "a wide variety of faculty members from different areas [and] different disciplines," Scida said.
Students participate in multiple departments, including anthropology, English, foreign languages, psychology and even philosophy.
"So many other fields feed into the study of linguistics," Scida said.
For example, a course taught by Media Studies Prof. David Golumbia paired the study of language with recent advances in computing.
Scida said Golumbia's work has helped facilitate the technology on which the complexity of Dobrin's research in particular has come to rely.
Building off her own dissertation work as well as a joint grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation to document dying languages, Dobrin has been studying and recording in-depth a dialect of Arapesh, a language spoken in New Guinea.
Meanwhile 25 to 30 University students -- a growing number consisting mostly of majors and a few minors -- graduate from the linguistics program each year, Scida said.
Students consider the interdisciplinary program for a number of reasons.
"The study of specific foreign languages has been increasing for many reasons related to world events and the need and desire to communicate with other speech communities," Scida said.
Furthermore, language is often unavoidable. It "is such an important part of life in general," said linguistics major Sandra Babilya, a fourth-year College student. "It covers nearly every aspect."
This goes beyond communication, something even other animals do, Dobrin said, noting that people develop their languages into arts and art forms that extend our humanity.
The skills taught by the interdisciplinary major can be considered interdisciplinary in their own right.
For example, the study of grammar "is really excellent for reasoning, problem solving and argumentation skills," Dobrin said.
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