Cognitive Science & Linguistics
Carleton’s Cognitive Science program and Linguistics department have merged to form a single department. The combined department shares a single chair and associate chair, but will continue to offer separate majors and minors.
Cognitive Science
Cognitive Science examines the nature of mind and the representation of knowledge. Topics include:
- How we learn, understand, and use language
- How learning and intelligence develop
- How we use information to infer and make decisions
- How computers may or may not be models of the mind
Linguistics
Linguistics is the study of the remarkable human capacity to learn and use natural languages. The discipline is driven by two fundamental questions. First, what is it that makes the human brain capable of speech? And second, how do children master such a complex system of knowledge in their first years of life?
Topics covered include semantics, syntax, morphology, phonology, and phonetics.
