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International Studies - Linguistics

Program Overview

Lower Division Requirements

  • Fourth Quarter Language Proficiency

Upper Division Requirements

  • International Studies Core (3 courses)
  • Linguistics Disciplinary Focus (8 courses)
  • Interdisciplinary Electives (3 courses)
  • International Studies Regional Requirement

Major Requirements:

Language course may be taken for a letter grade or Pass/No Pass, students must earn either a C- or better or a Pass. All other courses for major requirements must be taken for a letter grade of C- or above.

Language Requirement

International Studies majors are required to demonstrate basic proficiency in a modern foreign language.  This can be accomplished in one of the following ways:

International Studies Core (3 courses)

International Studies Core Courses (3 courses)

All courses are 4-units and must be taken for a letter grade of C- or better.

For Students Beginning the INTL Course Sequence in Fall 2024:

INTL 102 may be taken before INTL 101.


For ISP Students who have already taken INTL 101 and/or INTL 102 by Spring 2024:

INTL 102 may be taken before INTL 101. Both INTL 101 and INTL 102 must be completed before INTL 190. The INTL core courses must be taken at UC San Diego.

You may not take INTL 100 instead of INTL 190.

Linguistics Disciplinary Focus (8 courses)

All eight (8) courses must be 4 units, upper-division and taken for a letter grade of C- or better.

All students are required to complete the following course:

  • LIGN 101. Introduction to the Study of Language

At least three (3) of the eight (8) upper-division courses must be selected from the following:

  • LIGN 105. Law and Language
  • LIGN 108. Languages of Africa
  • LIGN 143. Structure of Spanish
  • LIGN 150. Historical Linguistics
  • LIGN 152. Indigenous Languages of the Americas
  • LIGN 155. Evolution of Language
  • LIGN 174. Gender and Language in Society
  • LIGN 175. Sociolinguistics
  • LIGN 176. Language of Politics and Advertising
  • LIGN 177. Multilingualism
  • LIGN 178. Spanish Sociolinguistics

The remaining four (4) upper-division courses may be selected from the following:

Interdisciplinary Electives (3 courses)

All three (3) courses must be upper-division, 4 units and taken for a letter grade of C- or better.

Course Pre-requisites: Students are responsible for meeting all departmental pre-requisite courses.  Please refer to the General Catalog (Link to: catalog.ucsd.edu) for additional information.

Regional Requirement

At least three (3) of the eleven (11) Disciplinary Focus and Interdisciplinary Elective courses must focus on one region.

  • Note: This requirement is an overlap requirement comprised of courses that count for both the Disciplinary Focus or Interdisciplinary Elective courses and the Regional Requirement.
  • Regional Requirement courses may come all from within the Disciplinary Focus, Interdisciplinary Electives, or a combination of the two.
  • Possible regions include: Africa, East Asia, Europe, Latin America or the Middle East.

Course Offerings:

Academic Advising Resources:

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Archived International Studies - Linguistics Course Offerings

2023-2024 Academic Year

2022-2023 Academic Year

2021-2022 Academic Year

2020-2021 Academic Year

2019-2020 Academic Year

2018-2019 Academic Year