academics

language requirements

Doctoral students must satisfy two language requirements. One is the "translation requirement," and the other is the "scholarly requirement." The translation requirement is satisfied by passing a timed test of the ability to read a few paragraphs about some area of linguistics in a non-English language. The student may use a dictionary. The language chosen for the translation requirement may be any language for which the program can find a competent grader, and that contains some literature about linguistics. Students should consult with the Executive Officer in choosing the language for the translation requirement. The scholarly language requirement is satisfied by demonstrating that the student is competent to handle a scholarly project concerning a language other than English, and other than the language used to fulfill the translation requirement. This may be satisfied in either of the following two ways:

1. Completion of Linguistics 73100 (or the equivalent, and assuming the course is about the structure of a language other than English) with a grade of B or better.

2. The student may submit an analytic paper demonstrating scholarly knowledge of some linguistic property of a language other than English. This paper may be one that has been used as a term paper for a course, or it may be written expressly for the purpose of passing the language exam. It should be of a quality and length appropriate for a course term paper.

The paper referred to above may deal with any linguistic property that is commonly studied in this program. Below are some examples of projects that could satisfy this requirement. The paper may:

• be about a syntactic, semantic, or phonological aspect of the language;

• concern a sociolinguistic issue of the language;

• be written in connection with a computational linguistics problem;

• deal with a question concerning acquiring the language, as a first or second language;

• focus on variation within or use of the language.

The preceding list is only suggestive; a student may select an appropriate project under the guidance of any member of the doctoral faculty. This faculty member will be responsible for determining if the project satisfies the language requirement.

Students who natively speak a language other than English, or who received most or all of their post-secondary education in a language other than English, need satisfy only one of these requirements; they may choose which one to satisfy. The language requirements may be satisfied at any time after entering the program, but at least one must be passed before the completion of 60 credits (30 credits in the case of M.A. students), and the second before advancement to candidacy. Master's students need satisfy only one language requirement, and they may choose either the translation or the scholarly option.