Modern Languages and Linguistics Department

Department Chairperson: Laura Vidler, Ph.D.

Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics
Slagle Hall, Room 306
414 East Clark Street
Vermillion, SD 57069
Phone: (605) 677-5357
www.usd.edu/languages

FACULTY

Professors:

István Gombocz, Ph.D., University of Illinois. Specialization: German Language, Culture, and Literature.
Laura Vidler, Ph.D., University of California-Irvine. Specialization: Performance Theory, Golden Age Drama, Spanish Literature, Spanish Civilization.

Associate Professor:

Angela Helmer, Ph.D., University of California-Los Angeles. Specialization: Specialization: Historical Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Phonetics, Colonial Peru.

Assistant Professors:

Armik Mirzayan, Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder. Specialization: Linguistics, Phonetics and Phonology, Lakota, Quechua, American Indian Languages, Language Structures.
Robert Turner, Ph. D., Vanderbilt University. Specialization: Spanish Literature and Culture, Science Fiction, Golden Age Theater.

DEGREE

Modern Languages and Linguistics courses support many graduate degree programs.

Courses are available to graduate students in:

French
German
Linguistics
Spanish

Program Description

The University of South Dakota is determined to support and propagate cultural and linguistic diversity on campus. Coursework is broad and diverse and supplements any graduate degree well. The immediate goal of taking French, Spanish, or German coursework is to develop the students’ proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, as well as in the culture of a foreign country.

The German-speaking countries of Europe have made a vital contribution to Western civilization. At present, German is spoken by approximately 90 million people in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, as well as in other countries of East Central Europe. German is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Community. Germans constitute the second largest ethnic minority in the U.S., and Germany is a major international trading partner of South Dakota.

Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language in the United States today. Knowledge of the Spanish language is imperative for students in business, teaching, politics, health services, local, regional, and federal government tasks, and numerous other societal/institutional organizations.