Editorial: A linguistics department

As of 2010, six of the eight Ivy League universities offer undergraduate single concentrations in linguistics. Princeton, however, is not among them, even though we do offer a certificate program in linguistics, and undergraduates commonly create independent concentrations in the subject. The Editorial Board feels that this gap in our academic offerings must be filled in order to provide the most enriching intellectual environment for our students and to continue to attract the highest caliber of prospective students.

The existing undergraduate interest in linguistics is, perhaps, the most important reason that the University should create a formal department. At any given time, there are typically between five and 10 students in the process of pursuing an independently designed linguistics concentration — more concentrators than exist in some established departments. Given this perennial level of interest in linguistics, the University’s failure to create a new department does a serious disservice both to students who do persevere and fulfill the independent concentration requirements and to students who choose other majors because the independent concentration process is prohibitively onerous. A new department would enrich the concentration process for the former group, as it would give them a broader faculty and course base and would carry with it the other advantages of official departmental membership; furthermore, it would permit members of the latter group to follow their chief academic passion. Lastly, the study of linguistics is relevant to many other University departments including, but not limited to, philosophy, psychology and the various language departments. A formal linguistics department would serve as an important asset to the entire intellectual community at Princeton.

Another benefit of a new department would be to encourage prospective students interested in studying linguistics to consider Princeton. Although the number of applicants who fall into this category may be relatively small, it is important that Princeton attracts the highest caliber of applicants possible; the creation of a linguistics department would make it clear to applicants considering the discipline as one of their many options that, at Princeton, administrative issues will not force them into choosing a major they do not want.

The University has considered creating such a department in the past, but, for a variety of reasons, has never succeeded in doing so. Princeton does have several very capable linguists; some were hired as linguistics professors but are unaffiliated with any department, while others are members of departments such as classics or philosophy. We encourage the University administration to make use of these individuals and the very capable students whom they teach as important assets to entice other respected linguists to join the Princeton faculty as members of a new department. While linguistics is related to many different disciplines, it is an academic discipline in its own right, and the University ought to acknowledge its legitimacy as a discipline by granting it a separate academic department. Neglecting to do so would be a disservice to the students of the University, to the other departments with which the study of linguistics overlaps meaningfully and to the academic discipline of linguistics as a whole.