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On July 1, 1966, the Department of Linguistics officially came into being and the Center was phased out. It was through the Center that the 1966 Linguistic Institute was organized and administered.
The physical life of the Department began with the administrative office and the Reading Room in the Graduate School of Management (now called Public Policy), the Phonetics Laboratory in Rolfe Hall, the African language section in Royce Hall, and faculty offices scattered about the campus. In 1973 the Department moved to its first consolidated quarters on the second floor of Campbell Hall, with the Phonetics Laboratory expanding to occupy space both in Rolfe and the basement of Campbell. The Department occupied these "temporary" quarters for the next 18 years, finally moving in its twenty-fifth year of existence into entirely renovated quarters, with all offices, laboratories, and communal areas in contiguous space on the second and third floors of Campbell Hall.
From its earliest days the Department has been recognized as one of the most distinguished in the world in most areas of theoretical linguistics as well as in the African and American Indian language areas. The Phonetics Laboratory is internationally recognized as a major center for the experimental study of linguistic phonetics. In 1970, the UCLA Linguistics Department was ranked second in a national survey by the American Council of Education. The Department again achieved this ranking in 1980 in a national survey of graduate programs, and was third in 1992.
By now, roughly 250 individuals have received the Ph.D. degree from the department. They teach in academic programs, and work in linguistics-related business enterprises, across the United States and throughout the world.
The founding generation of faculty included a number of prominent scholars. William Bright taught at UCLA from 1959 to 1988. He is currently an Emeritus Professor and a Professor Adjoint at the University of Colorado. The late Victoria Fromkin was one of the department's own first Ph.D.'s. She began teaching in the department in 1965, and served as Dean/Vice Chancellor of the UCLA Graduate Division from 1979 to1989. Peter Ladefoged came to the UCLA department in 1963 and served as regular teaching faculty until 1991. He is currently a Research Linguist/Emeritus Professor. Paul Schachter was one of the program's earliest Ph.D.'s, and became a noted authority on syntactic theory and on Philippine languages. He taught in the department from the mid 1960's to the early 1990's, and is currently an Emeritus Professor. Robert Stockwell was the founding chair of the department. He served as regular teaching faculty from 1956 to 1994, and is currently an Emeritus Professor. The late William Welmers, a leading specialist in African languages, taught at UCLA from the late 1950's until the early 1980's. source
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The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Last updated 06/18/04.