The aim of the Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science is to strengthen the students' abilities in critical thinking: logical argument, statistical reasoning, and scientific hypothesis testing. The department provides small seminars where students may learn to write and speak articulately.
In linguistics the student should achieve a basic knowledge of core theoretical linguistics (syntax, semantics, phonology). The student should also develop a sophisticated understanding of a specialty (one of the core fields, or pragmatics, sociolinguistics, or psycholinguistics). As many students as possible are encouraged to pursue a special interest to the point of being able to conduct independent research, theoretical or experimental, under the supervision of a member of the faculty.
In cognitive science, which in our department is focused on the role of language in the mind, the student acquires a basic knowledge in disciplines central to the study of human cognition (logic, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, computer models of thought and language, psycholinguistics, concept acquisition and development, language acquisition, and philosophy of language and mind). In advanced seminars the student is expected to pursue a problem across disciplinary boundaries when needed: to be competent in reading philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, computer scientists, and linguists.