The science of language 

Linguistics is the scientific study of language, including language analytics, how languages evolve, and how we use language to communicate. Linguistic research advances knowledge on how we socialize, how we understand or misunderstand one another, and how we use language to interpret the world around us. Areas of study include sounds (phonetics and phonology), words (morphology), sentences (syntax), pattern and variation analysis (corpus linguistics), narratives and conversations (discourse analysis), meaning (semantics and pragmatics) and the study of individual languages, including Indigenous languages. 

SFU Linguistics is one of the largest and most diverse linguistics programs in Canada. We offer a wide range of courses about language at the undergraduate level, including certificate programs in Linguistics of Speech Science and Teaching English as a Second Language. We also offer graduate programs for MA and PhD degrees. The work conducted in our research labs aims to address questions such as how language is acquired in infancy, how second languages are acquired, and how language can be processed by computers. 

Career options related to linguistics are expanding each year, as the value of skills such as computational text analysis, practical application of phonetic science, and sociolinguistic analysis is being recognized in the increasingly data-driven job market. Linguistics graduates may choose to work in analytics, language data management, ESL instruction, speech language assistance, and natural language processing (NLP). With further education, a student can become an audiologist, speech-language pathologist, forensic linguist, and more.

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