Graduate Program

Our graduate program provides both a grounding in core areas of linguistics as well as the opportunity for specialization within the broad areas of formal linguistic theory, second language acquisition, and language variation and change (including historical Indo-European linguistics). The actual programs of study constructed by individual students and their advisory committees focus on two specific fields of concentration within these broader areas. The programs of study may also include courses or research projects in related disciplines such as antrhopology, sociology, computer science, philosophy, or in the history or structure of a specific language or languages. Proseminar and colloquium courses are offered to enhance students' professional training and to provide opportunities to present and discuss current research projects.

Formal linguistic theory deals with language structure and meaning, with the goal of constructing theoretical models to explain how humans acquire, produce, and comprehend language. Research focuses on the study of the sounds of human language (phonetics and phonology), the structure of words (morphology), the structure of sentences (syntax), and meaning (semantics), using natural language data, speaker intuitions, and experimental methods.

Second language acquisition offers a curriculum that treats the theoretical bases for learning languages and also provides training for college-level language teaching. Students may concentrate on the acquisition of specific languages, such as French, Spanish, or German. For students who are interested primarily in teaching English as a second language or in high-school foreign language teaching, the Department of Language and Literacy Education in the College of Education offers M.E.d and Ph.D. degrees in these areas.

Language variation and change represent two interconnected areas. Languages inevitably change over time and these changes are a source of synchronic variation. The existence of linguistic variants often leads to social valuation of specific features, and these valuations or other social factors (such as language contact) can themselves drive linguistic change. The study of language variation focuses on contemporary and historical patterns of language change, including changes in progress, social factors related to variation, and empirical research methods for the investigation of language in use. Historical linguistics investigates change over a greater depth of time; it involves both the methodology for comparison and reconstruction of historical languages and an intense, hermeneutic approach to studying ancient languages individually. Students can acquire a close familiarity with the sounds, grammar, and vocabulary of languages like ancient Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Classical Armenian, Gothic, Old English, Old Church Slavic, and others.