The M.A. in Linguistics

Students must fulfill all requirements of the Graduate School for the M.A. degree, including the residence requirement and time limits (see the Graduate Bulletin).

The Linguistics Program requires all M.A. and Ph.D. students to achieve two research skills in addition to the specific degree requirements below.

Degree Requirements for a 30-Semester-Hour M.A. Degree (10 courses)

Any particular course requirement may be waived for students who have had an equivalent course at the graduate level at another university. Any such waiver will not reduce the total number of courses required for the degree; students will take additional elective courses instead of the courses that would have satisfied any waived requirements.

All students are required to take LING 6020 Phonetics, LING 8150 Generative Syntax, and LING 7300M Master's Thesis. In addition, all students enrolled after August 2005 in any given track must take one course each in any two of the four other tracks.

Specific course requirements by track:
Track I Second Language Acquisition
Track II Language Theory
Track III Historical Linguistics
Track IV Language Variation and Sociolinguistics
Track V Humanities Computing

The M.A. Examination
The M.A. Thesis
Change of Degree Objective to Ph.D.

Track I Second Language Acquisition

1. LING 8150 Syntax
2. LING 6020 Phonetics
3. LING 6030 Phonology
4. LING 8120 Morphology

SLA Courses:

5. LING 6170 SLA (offered every year)

6, 7, and 8: Choose three courses from one of the following sets

• SET A: L2 Acquisition
  LING 8280/ROM 8000 Seminar in SLA (Quesada, taught in English), ELAN 8600 Research on SLA (Harklau), LING/EPSY 8130 Psycholinguistics (Schwanenflugel, LING 6180 ESL EA (McCreary) ELAN 7730 L1 & L2 Acquisition (staff).
• SET B: Spanish
  LING 7750 Teaching College Spanish, LING 6650 Spanish Phonetics and Phonology, LING 6750 Spanish Syntax and Morphology, LING 6850 Applied Spanish Linguistics, LING 6950 Spanish Semantics and Pragmatics, SPAN/LING 8850 SLA of Spanish.
• SET C: French
  LING 7700 Teaching College French, LING 6630 The French Sound System in a Social Context, LING 6700 Applied French Linguistics, LING 6800 French Syntax and Meaning, LING 6910 History of the French Language.
• SET D: German
  LING 7500 Teaching College German, GRMN 6001 Advanced Grammar and Composition, LING 6380 Contrastive Grammar: German-English, LING 6460 Linguistic Structure of German, LING 6810 German Phonology and Morphology.
• Other courses from the new SLA course list may substitute for a course that may not be offered as frequently. An additional course from the SLA list can be added to the minimum of ten courses in all.

9. One course in LING Track II or III (Historical Linguistics, or Lang. Variation & Sociolinguistics)

10. LING 7300 Master’s Thesis

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Track II: Language Theory

1. LING 6020 Phonetics
2. LING 6030 Phonology
3. LING 8150 Generative Syntax
4. LING 8080 Seminar in Language Theory OR LING 8120 Morphology

5, 6, and 7. Choose three courses from the following set:
LING 8160 Advanced Generative Syntax, LING 8070 Advanced Phonology, LING [digit designation pending] Advanced Phonetics, LING 8880 Field Linguistics, LING [course proposal pending] Creole Linguistics

8 and 9. Electives: 2 LING courses from other tracks

10. LING 7300 Master’s Thesis

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Track III: Historical Linguistics

1. LING 6020 Phonetics
2. LING 8150 Generative Syntax
3. LING 6210 Introduction to Indo-European Studies
4. LING 6690 Historical Linguistics

5, 6, and 7. Choose 3 courses from one of the following sets

• SET A: Indo-European: LING 6150 Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, LING 6610 Sanskrit I, LING 6620 Sanskrit II, LING 6900 Topics in Indo-European Linguistics, LING 8680 Seminar in Historical Linguistics;
• SET B: Germanic: ENGL/LING 6000 History of the English Language, ENGL/LING 6010 American English, ENGL/LING 6060 Old English, ENGL/LING 6070 Middle English, GRMN/LING 6600 History of the German Language, GRMN/LING 8320 Gothic, GRMN/LING 8400 Middle High German, GRMN/LING 8510 Seminar in German Linguistics, GRMN/LING 8520 Seminar in German Linguistics.
• Students may define a set of three related courses for by writing a letter of justification to be approved by the student's major professor and the program Director.

8 and 9. Electives: 2 LING courses from other tracks

10. LING 7300 Master’s Thesis

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Track IV: Language Variation and Sociolinguistics

1. LING 6020 Phonetics
2. LING 8150 Generative Syntax

Required LVS Courses
3. LING/ENGL 8020 Language Variation (taught every other year)
4. LING/ANTH 6860 Sociolinguistics (taught every other year)
5. STAT 6210 Statistical Methods I (taught every semester)

6. Select one course from the LVS list which is also on the list for the historical linguistics track:

LING 6690 Historical Linguistics
ENGL/LING 6000 History of the English Language
ENGL/LING 6010 American English
ENGL/LING 6060 Old English
ENGL/LING 6070 Middle English
GRMN/LING 6600 History of the German Language
FREN/LING 6910  History of the French Language
FREN 8800 and SPAN/LING 8010 Topics in Culture, Language, Linguistics, and Literature of the Spanish-Speaking World Seminar (when taught as Comparative Romance Linguistics)
SPAN/LING 6550 History of the Spanish Language

7. Select one course from another Linguistics track (I. Second Language Acquisition, II. Language Theory, V. Humanities Computing)

8. Select one course from the following list:

ENGL/LING 6010 American English
LING 6080 Linguistics of Speech
LING/ANTH 6090 Cognitive Anthropology
ENGL/LING 6100 Lexicography
LING 6320 Caribbean Creoles and Culture
SPAN/LING 6450 Variation and Sociolinguistics in Spanish
FREN/LING 6630 The French Sound System in a Social Context
LING 6710 Languages in Contact
LING/CMLT 6740 Discourse Analysis
FREN/LING 6800 French Syntax and Meaning
GERM/LING 6810 German Phonology and Morphology
LING/CMLT 6870 Language, Gender and Culture
ENGL/LING 6886 Text and Corpus Analysis
SPAN/LING 6950 Spanish Semantics and Pragmatics
SPAN/LING 8010 Topics in Culture, Language, Linguistics, and Literature of the Spanish-Speaking World Seminar (when taught as Introduction to Linguistic Methods)
GRMN/LING 8520 Seminar in German Language Variation
LING 8980. Seminar in Language Variation and Sociolinguistics

9. Required practical experience: LING 9010 Directed Readings [8 hrs/week participation with major professor in collaborative research]

10. LING 7300 Master’s Thesis

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Track V: Humanities Computing

1. LING 6020 Phonetics
2. LING 8150 Generative Syntax

Required Humanities Computing courses:
3. LING 6885 Introduction to Humanities Computing
4. LING 6886 Text and Corpus Analysis
5. LING 6888 Humanities Computing I: Knowledge Representation
6. LING 6889 Humanities Computing II: Applied Design OR LING 6570 Applied NLP

Courses in at least two other tracks:
7. Other track A
8. Other track B

9. Required practical experience: LING 7000 Masters Research [8 hrs/week participation with major professor in collaborative research]

10. LING 7300 Master’s Thesis

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The M.A. Examination

The MA candidate will take a written exam near the end of the program. Normally the examination will be taken before the end of the term in which the student will complete course requirements, before the student prepares the M.A. thesis.

The candidate will choose two areas based on two courses taken. The student will make two manageable reading lists with the help of the major professor. After the two lists have been approved by the major professor, they will be emailed to the other two professors on the student’s MA committee. It is the responsibility of the student to provide the two finalized reading lists to all three professors on his/her committee at least two weeks in advance of the exam.

The student will get several questions, either essay questions and/or problem solving questions, and have two hours to complete the exam. The student will write the exam in MS WORD and distribute it to the three-member committee by email.

The student’s committee will administer and evaluate the examination on the scale High Pass/Pass/Fail. Two passing votes are required to pass the exam.

Students who fail the exam may retake it once, no sooner than two weeks after the first attempt but within one additional semester. Students who fail the exam a second time will be dismissed from the program. No student may undertake the thesis defense without first having passed the M.A. examination.

The M.A. Thesis

In consultation with the major professor and Advisory Committee the student prepares a thesis proposal. Normally the proposal should be submitted not later than the term in which the student is to complete course requirements. Click here for more detailed instructions regarding the M.A. thesis proposal.

Upon approval of the proposal by the Advisory Committee, the student will prepare a thesis. The thesis is a formal research paper normally about 50 pages in length. It may be an expansion of a research paper prepared by the student for a course. The thesis should not emphasize topics which only peripherally demonstrate the student's linguistic abilities, or topics that involve mechanical skills such as segmentation or classification. The thesis should demonstrate the student's knowledge of linguistic theory and ability to deal with problems that arise in the application of linguistic theory. Previous linguistics M.A. theses of the department are available for students' consideration. Students must present a bound copy of the completed thesis to the department.

Theses and dissertations will be submitted electronically to the Graduate School. Consult the UGA Graduate School Policies and Procedures regarding electronic theses and dissertations.

The student will defend the thesis in an oral examination of approximately 60 minutes. The examination may include topics from the general area of linguistics of the thesis. When the student and major professor agree that the thesis is complete, it must be circulated to the other members of the Advisory Committee at least three weeks before the date of the defense. The defense itself must be scheduled at least one week before the deadline for submission of the completed thesis to the Graduate School prior to graduation.

Change of Degree Objective to Ph.D.

Students who wish to petition to move from the M.A. program to the Ph.D. program, without completing the M.A. degree, must first pass the M.A. examination, and then must submit three letters of recommendation from Linguistics faculty members that address the student's readiness for doctoral study without the preliminary experience of completing the M.A. thesis. Applications for a change in degree objective should be submitted according to the same deadlines as applications for graduate study (i.e., by January 1 for a change of degree objective effective for the following Fall term) in order for the student to receive full consideration for assistantships. Students whose petitions are approved will be subject to the requirements of the 45 semester hour Ph.D. program.

Students who choose to complete the M.A. degree may apply for admission to the Ph.D. program according to the same procedures and deadlines as new applications for graduate study. Students who complete the M.A. degree at UGA and who are accepted for the Ph.D. program must complete at least 30 semester hours of additional coursework. Courses counted for the M.A. degree may not be included on the Ph.D. Program of Study.

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