What should I study if interested in Linguistics, History, and Anthropology?

Question

I'm interested in studying the languages both with an alphabet and with symbols-semiotics?-of ancient civilizations, particularly religious studies. Does anyone have an idea of what my undergrad and graduate degrees should be? Or at least have suggestions? Thanks...

Answer 1

You should major in Linguistic Anthropology (yes that is a major). But I can't tell you which school has that major.

Answer 2

I'd say focus on archeology. Archeology is a subfield of anthropology (in most universities) and will deal with all of the areas you have an interest in. If you choose to specialize in, say, middle eastern or Indian cultures you'll be learning about languages that appeal to you, some very interesting ancient civilizations (India in particular) and the religions of those cultures. You might also like Asian archeology too given your interest in languages with symbols since Asian languages tend to use ideograms.

If you're mostly interested in religious studies then you could go with a degree in cultural anthropology, of which religion is one of the things studied. You probably wont be dealing with history so much, but you will be studying at least one language. You'll also be able to take part in field studies where you actually live with the culture you're studying while learning about their religion from them.

See the link below for some more info on the various types of anthropology fields and see if you can find one that appeals to you.

Good luck!

Answer 3

I think double-major Linguistics and Classics.

Classics will give you a great start with Latin and/or Ancient Greek and/or Hebrew.

Then, if you study History or Anthropology at grad school, you will be able to use primary sources--i.e. the original texts. This is especially important in History. Say for example, you wanted to study religious persecution in early Medieval France. Most of the records during this time were kept in Latin, as Latin was the lingua franca of the educated elite during that time. instead of relying on flawed and (possibly)biased translations, you will be free to provide your own interpretation. You could also read the original biblical texts in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and compare them with today's translated texts, which could help you in any religious studies course of study.

That, combined with an actual linguistic background would be a pretty impressive combinations to grad schools looking for people who can read these languages.

Of course, if you can learn any of those three ancient languages, learning today's languages will be so easy in comparison. And Latin essentially gives you a big boost to learning Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Romanian. (Plus many of the scientific words in use and all of the words used in English-speaking nations' judicial systems.

I could go on and on.

Answer 4

I think you should major in Anthropology, and minor in Religious Studies, (That's what I am doing but for a different reason). Once you get your degree in Anthro. you can move on to getting your MA in Linguistics under Anthropology. Or you could always double major, but I think Anthro. covers so much you'd be better off as an Anthropologist.
Good luck!

Answer 5

You probably want to study linguistics. Make sure that the college or university you pick has a wide variety of languages to choose from. You may want to do a year abroad to strenghten your linguistics ability.

You could minor in History or Anthropology.

Answer 6

I love your screen name, first of all! Anthropology does involve all those facets. I'd talk with your undergrad counselor rep. Go to Borders or Barnes and Noble and do a little research. Also, you might want to wander over to the liberal arts building and ask a an Anthro professor.

Answer 7

Hi

read Steven Pinker
try British history, Roman alphabet, Latin, English
hope you enjoy it

Answer 8

i suggest studying ancient near eastern civilizations. many of the individuals who concentrate in this field study study the languages and religion of the akkadians, sumerians, persians, and hittites. be warned; however, jobs in this field are not in demand and are quite rare. you will also need a reading knowledge of french and german to pursue graduate work in this field.

Answer 9

Have you thought about a Classics degree. It's a very broad degree encompassing many humanity disciplines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classics#Sub-disciplines_within_the_classics
http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/courses/clas.shtml
http://www.rhul.ac.uk/Classics/ug/ug_programmes.html
http://www.yale.edu/classics/undergrad.html#main