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Home > Graduate > General Linguistics Degree Requirements
General Linguistics Graduate Degree Requirements
Master of Arts

Please see http://www.grad.washington.edu/stsv/mastersinfo.htm for important details about minimun Graduate School degree requirements. No student may register for more than 10 credits of Linguistics 700 (M.A. thesis credit) per quarter. For other University requirements, please consult the Bulletin.

Departmental requirements are as follows:
  1. 2 syntax courses
  2. 2 phonetics/phonology courses
  3. 1 semantics course, 1 sociolinguistics course
  4. 3 more courses at the 400 or 500 level. At least two of these must be 500-level classes for which papers or projects are required. The specific courses that can satisfy the above requirements are listed separately in the Grad FAQs.
  5. Demonstrated ability to read the linguistic literature in some language other than English. This can be satisfied at any time during the program by arrangement with the Graduate Program Coordinator. An MA student is required to take the language exam before (the beginning of) the quarter in which s/he intends to obtain the degree. Please see Revised Language Requirement for detailed information on recent revisions of the language requirement.
  6. An M.A. exam in areas in which the grade point average (for the required course work in that area) is below 3.3.
  7. A short M.A. thesis (from about 30 to no more than 50 pages), which will typically be an expansion of a term paper. Students must register for 9 credits (total) of Ling 700 (M.A. Thesis).
Note: No course taken to fulfill course requirements can be taken for the 2-credit (no paper) option.

For students entering the M.A. program with a B.A. in linguistics:
 The requirements will normally be the same as those for any other M.A. students. However, since they will typically be able to start at the higher-level courses, they will have the ability to take more advanced courses earlier (and thus have the opportunity to improve their breadth and/or get through the program more rapidly).



Doctor of Philosophy

See http://www.grad.washington.edu/stsv/quickref.htm for general Graduate School requirements. Requirements for the Ph.D. are an M.A. degree (in the usual case) plus the following:
For students holding the MA degree, it is expected that they will have a foundation comparable to the one described above;

Total (i.e. MA + PhD) departmental requirements for the PhD are as follows:
  1. 2-3 syntax courses, 2-3 phonetics/phonology courses, 1-2 semantics courses, 1 sociolinguistics course (see subspecialities for specifics). The Graduate School requires a minimum of 90 credits total for the Ph.D.
  2. Additional courses at the 400 or 500 level for a total of 30 credits to be taken before the general exams. A minimum of 5 courses must be 500-level courses with a paper.
  3. There is also a major requirement and a minor requirement as follows:
  4. MAJOR: 6 courses in the student's primary area of specialization.
  5. MINOR: 4 courses in a second area. (The major and minor together should form a coherent research area.)
  6. For the computational track, demonstrated ability to read the linguistic literature in some language other than English. For other tracks a breadth language requirement, as follows: a language (not the one used to satisfy the MA language requirement) that is not English and is not in the same language family as the student's native language(s). The requirement may be fulfilled by one year's study or a major research project. Field work on a language that would otherwise meet the requirement can be used to satisfy it if it represents at least 200 hours of data collection and results in a substantial document such as an MA thesis.
  7. Two linguistics papers delivered at a colloquium or conference. Each will be evaluated by a member of the student's Ph.D. committee with expertise in the area of the paper. The evaluation may be either of the oral presentation or of the paper in written form. The student should request evaluation by a faculty member for any paper to be considered for this requirement.
  8. By the end of the first quarter after admission to the Ph.D. program, the student will constitute a Ph.D. committee, in accord with Graduate School requirements. As part of this process, the student will work out with the committee members (by e-mail or in person) a strategy for degree completion. The student's Ph.D. committee will administer a General Examination, which involves 2 parts:
  9. i. Two generals papers in different areas, at least one in grammatical theory.
  10. ii. An oral examination, in which the candidate is questioned on the two papers. The oral examination may not be scheduled until the committee has read the two papers and approved them as passing.
  11. Within six months of the oral examination, the student will present a formal dissertation proposal to the subset of Ph.D. committee members who constitute the Reading Committee along with a proposed calendar for completion of the dissertation.
  12. A Final Exam on the dissertation attended by the candidate's Supervisory Committee and open to others interested.
  13. A dissertation suitable for publication.
  14. All degree requirements except for the dissertation and the two colloquia or conference papers must be completed before the General Exam.
Admission to the PhD program
 Students with an M.A. in linguistics are encouraged to apply directly to the doctoral program. The M.A. is a minimum requirement for admission to the Ph.D. program. For those holding an MA in Linguistics or a closely related field with overlapping coursework, admission to the Ph.D. program may be granted unconditionally or with the stipulation that one or more M.A.-level deficiencies be made up.
CLMA students wishing to apply for the PhD should follow these guidelines: click here

Admission of students receiving an M.A. from our department to our Ph.D. program is not automatic. Students who have completed their M.A. must see the Graduate Program Coordinator and submit a letter requesting admission to the Ph.D. program. The letter should contain the name of the faculty member who has agreed to chair the Ph.D. Supervisory Committee. The faculty will then consider the student for the Ph.D. program. We recommend that s/he apply during the quarter in which s/he attempts to obtain an MA degree. At the latest, s/he is required to apply to the PhD program by the end of the following quarter (not counting the summer quarter). For example, if you obtained an MA degree in Spring, you are required to apply to the PhD program by the end of Autumn (if you wish to continue, that is).

This means that a post-MA student is considered to be ''in the program'' during the quarter immediately after s/he obtained the MA degree as long as s/he is registered. After that, s/he is no longer considered to be "in the program" unless s/he has officially applied to the PhD program and has been accepted. Note also that the student is ineligible for financial aid after the one quarter grace period.

Students applying to the PhD program from a different institution or after obtaining an MA from our CLMA program may be asked to take additional courses.


Remarks on Graduate School Requirements

Students are advised to become familiar with Graduate School requirements, as well as those described on this website. If there are any questions, the student should contact the Graduate School, the Graduate Program Coordinator or the chair of the Supervisory Committee. Once admitted to the program, students should make it a regular practice to see the Graduate Program Coordinator about their progress at least once a year.

All graduate students must be either registered or officially on leave. Failure to register or go on leave is interpreted as resignation from the Graduate School.

Information on the Graduate School is available at http://www.grad.washington.edu.

If you have any further questions or comments please contact us at phoneme@u.washington.edu

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