LING at Cornell University

A suggested order for the 83 courses on the map, built from prerequisite chains and how often each course has run in fall and spring across the last 12 regular terms. It is not the department’s plan, and it is not a promise a course will run. Confirm against the department’s own advising material.

Gateway courses

Each of these unlocks the largest share of downstream work on this map. Courses from other departments can appear here when they genuinely gate LING coursework.

• LING 3303Introduction to Syntax and Semanticsopens 18 courses (13 directly)
• LING 3302Introduction to Phonetics and Phonologyopens 11 courses (8 directly)
• LING 6403Syntax Iopens 4 courses (3 directly)
• LING 4424Computational Linguisticsopens 3 courses (3 directly)
• LING 6401Phonology Iopens 3 courses (2 directly)
• CS 4740Introduction to Natural Language Processingopens 2 courses (2 directly)

The map

Intro tiers at the top, advanced work below; arrows point from a prerequisite to the course it unlocks. Courses from other departments appear where they gate LING work. Click any course to see what it requires and unlocks without leaving this page; hovering lights up its neighbors. The lists on this page carry the same courses in text form.

Showing the 83 LING and feeder courses that have prerequisite links. 67 more LING courses have no recorded prerequisites. They are listed under Tracks below, not drawn as loose dots here.

Tracks

Upper-level clusters, grouped by the gateway that opens them.

The longest ladders

The deepest prerequisite chains in LING. These are the routes that take the most semesters to climb.

• 5 courses deep, ending at LING 6601

  1. LING 1101Introduction to Linguistics
  2. LING 3302Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology
  3. LING 6401Phonology I
  4. LING 6402Phonology II
  5. LING 6601Topics in Phonological Theory

• 5 courses deep, ending at LING 6616

  1. LING 1101Introduction to Linguistics
  2. LING 3303Introduction to Syntax and Semantics
  3. LING 6403Syntax I

• 4 courses deep, ending at LING 3333

  1. LING 1101Introduction to Linguistics
  2. LING 3303Introduction to Syntax and Semantics
  3. LING 4421Semantics I

• 4 courses deep, ending at LING 4440

  1. LING 1101Introduction to Linguistics
  2. LING 3302Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology
  3. LING 3314Introduction to Historical Linguistics

Grade medians

Teaching in Fall 2026

Instructors on LING sections in Fall 2026, from the registrar's schedule.

• Abigail Cohn
• Arrell Henhawk
• Dorit Abusch
• Halla Hauksdottir
• Helena Aparicio Terrasa
• Jennifer Kuo
• John Whitman
• Marten van Schijndel
• Mats Rooth
• Michael Weiss
• Milena Sereikaite
• Molly Diesing
• Sam Tilsen
• Sarah Murray
• Shaun Nichols
• Ti Alkire
• Willow Starr
• Zander Lynch

Clubs & organizations

No clubs or organizations on record under LING yet.

Clubs students here join

Department events

LING does not run a page here yet. When it does, its events show up here and on the Cornell campus feed.