The Ph.D. in Linguistics

Students must fulfill all requirements of the Graduate School for the Ph.D. 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

45-Semester-Hour Ph.D. Degree (15 courses)

Students entering the Ph.D. program with a B.A. or B.S. degree will take 45 semester hours of coursework (15 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.

30-Semester-Hour Ph.D. Degree (10 courses)

Students who enter with a relevant M.A. degree (including one from UGA) must take at least an additional 30 semester hours (10 courses). Any student who enters with an M.A. in hand but who cannot meet the following Ph.D. requirements within 30 semester hours after appropriate course waivers will be required to take additional courses beyond 30 semester hours.

All students are required to take LING 6020 Phonetics, LING 6030 Phonology, LING 8150 Generative Syntax, and LING 9300D Doctoral Dissertation. 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

The Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination
Dissertation Prospectus
The Dissertation

Track I Second Language Acquisition

Ph. D. 45-credit hour program (15 courses)

The candidates in this program will typically not have an MA or BA in Linguistics.

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 through 13. Choose from the following sets

SET A: L2 Acquisition
Choose three of these five courses: LING 8280/ROM 8000 SLA Seminar, ELAN 8600 Research in SLA, ELAN 7730 L1 & L2 Acquisition, LING/EPSY 8130 Psycholinguistics, LING 6180 ESL EA.

PLUS five (5) additional courses from the new SLA course list.

SET B: Spanish
Choose four of these courses: SPAN/LING 8850 SLA of Spanish, LING 7750 Teaching College Spanish, LING 6650 Spanish Phonetics and Phonology, LING 6750 Spanish Syntax and Morphology, LING 6850 Spanish Applied Linguistics, LING 6950 Spanish Semantics and Pragmatics.

PLUS four (4) additional courses from the new SLA course list.

SET C: French
Choose four of these courses: 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.

PLUS four (4) additional courses from the new SLA course list.

SET D: German
Choose four of these courses: LING 7500 Teaching College German, GRMN 6001 Advanced Grammar and Composition, LING 6380 Contrastive Grammar: German-English, LING 6460 Structure of Modern German, LING 6810 German Phonology and Morphology.

PLUS four (4) additional courses from the new SLA course list.

14. Elective: One course from LING Track II or III (Historical Linguistics or Language Variation & Sociolinguistics)

15. LING 9300 Dissertation.

Please note that Ph.D. students need to demonstrate skills in two languages in addition to their L1.

Ph. D. 30 credit hour program (10 courses)

The candidates in this 30 hour program will typically have an MA in Linguistics, or an MA in Romance Linguistics or Germanic Linguistics, or the equivalent.

1. LING 6170 SLA (offered every year)

2 through 8. Choose from the following sets

SET A: L2 Acquisition
Choose three of these five courses: LING 8280/ROM 8000 SLA Seminar ELAN 8600 Research in SLA ELAN 7730 L1 & L2 Acquisition (staff), LING/EPSY 8130 Psycholinguistics, LING 6180 ESL EA.

PLUS four (4) additional courses from the new SLA course list.

SET B: Spanish
Choose four courses from the following: SPAN/LING 8850 SLA of Spanish, LING 7750 Teaching College Spanish, LING 6650 Spanish Phonetics and Phonology, LING 6750 Spanish Syntax and Morphology, LING 6850 Spanish Applied Linguistics, LING 6950 Spanish Semantics and Pragmatics.

PLUS three (3) additional courses from the new SLA course list.

SET C: French
Choose four courses from the following: 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.

PLUS three (3) additional courses from the new SLA course list.

SET D: German
Choose four courses from the following: LING 7500 Teaching College German, GRMN 6001 Advanced Grammar and Composition, LING 6380 Contrastive Grammar: German-English, LING 6460 Structure of Modern German, LING 6810 German Phonology and Morphology.

PLUS three (3) additional courses from the new SLA course list.

9. One course from LING Track II or III (Historical Linguistics or Language Variation & Sociolinguistics)

10. LING 9300 Dissertation

Please note that PhD students need to demonstrate skills in two languages in addition to their L1.

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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 through 8. Choose four 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 to be submitted next semester] Creole Linguistics

9 through 14. Electives: 6 LING courses

15. LING 9300 Dissertation

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Track III: Historical Linguistics

1. LING 6020 Phonetics
2. LING 6030 Phonology
3. LING 8150 Generative Syntax
4. LING 6210 Introduction to Indo-European Studies
5. LING 6690 Historical Linguistics
6. LING 8680 Seminar in Historical Linguistics.

7, 8, and 9: 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 by writing a letter of justification to be approved by the student's major professor and the program Director

10, 11, and 12. Choose 3 additional courses from the Historical Linguistics list.

13 and 14. Electives: 2 LING courses.

15. LING 9300 Dissertation

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Track IV: Language Variation and Sociolinguistics

1. LING 6020 Phonetics
2. LING 6030 Phonology
3. LING 8150 Generative Syntax

Required LVS courses:

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

7. 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

8. Select one course from the Second Language Acquisition track.

9. Select one course from the Language Theory track.

10 and 11. Select two courses 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

Required practical experience:

12.  LING 9010 Directed Readings [8 hrs/week participation with major professor in collaborative research]
13.  LING 9010 Directed Readings [8 hrs/week participation with major professor in collaborative research]

14. Elective: Choose one LING course (recommend LING 6885 Intro to Humanities Computing)

15. LING 9300 Dissertation.

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The Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination

The Ph.D. Comprehensive examination consists of two three-hour written examinations, plus a 90-minute oral examination. The student will prepare a reading list for each of the three-hour written exams: both of the reading lists/writtens should take for a topic a special field selected by the student and Advisory Committee from within the area of the student's chosen curricular track. The written exams may include objective, short answer questions, but will consist primarily of one or more essay questions. The Advisory Committee will prepare and evaluate each of the written exams: each member of the Advisory Committee should read both of the written exams, and will grade each one on the scale High Pass/Pass/Fail. To pass the written portion of the exam, the student must receive no more than one failing vote.

Students who pass the writtens should proceed to the oral comprehensive exam within two weeks. The oral comprehensive normally begins with consideration of the student's performance on the written exams; questions may range over both reading lists for the writtens and over any aspect of required course work and the curricular track selected by the student. To pass the oral portion of the exam, the student must receive no more than one failing vote.

Normally the comprehensive examination will be taken by the end of the third year of course work for students entering with a bachelor's degree, or by the end of the second year of course work for students who enter with a relevant M.A. degree. It is the responsibility of the student to schedule the written and oral exams with the Advisory Committee at a time and date agreed upon at least four weeks in advance of the exam; the student must also inform the Graduate School of the date, time, and place of the oral exam at least two weeks in advance (it will be best to schedule the oral exam at the same time as the written exams are scheduled, on the assumption that the student will pass the writtens). Students who fail either the written or the oral component of the examination may retake the failed component once, no sooner than four weeks after the first attempt for the written portion, no sooner than two weeks after the first attempt for the oral portion, but within one additional semester. Students who fail either component of the exam a second time will be dismissed from the program.

Click here for more detailed instructions regarding the Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam.

Dissertation Prospectus

Within one semester after passing the comprehensive examination, the student should submit, and the Advisory Committee approve, a dissertation prospectus. The prospectus should propose a problem for a doctoral dissertation, ascertain the originality of the idea with reference to the available literature, and demonstrate the availability of means and materials required to solve the problem. The prospectus need not be lengthy, and should not exceed 5,000 words.

When the student, major professor, and Advisory Committee agree that the prospectus is complete, a copy must be filed with the program Director. The Director will submit the prospectus to the Linguistics Program Executive Committee, which may accept the prospectus or return it to the student and Advisory Committee for modification. The Executive Committee must accept the prospectus before the student writes the dissertation. The Director will publish for the faculty and students at least once per year a list of dissertation topics currently in progress in the program, along with the names of the students and their Advisory Committees.

Click here for more detailed instructions regarding the dissertation proposal.

The Dissertation

Upon approval of the prospectus by the Advisory Committee, the student will prepare a dissertation. The dissertation is based on original research which makes a significant contribution to knowledge in some area of theoretical and/or applied linguistics. Previous linguistics dissertations of the department are available for students' consideration. Students must present a bound copy of the completed dissertation 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 dissertation in an oral examination of approximately 90 minutes, and at most two hours. When the student and major professor agree that the dissertation 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.

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