The department offers both PhD and MA degrees in linguistics. The requirements for the completion of each degree are summarized below. The department also offers a combined BA/MA degree for its undergraduate majors.
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The PhD Program
Completion of the PhD in five years requires progress in several categories. For additional details, consult the PhD Program Handbook.
Courses
Students complete a minimum of thirteen courses (65 units). In the first year, students take a core sequence of courses in phonetics, phonology, psycholinguistics, semantics, syntax, and field or experimental methods. By the end of the second year, most of the required coursework (including in addition a research seminar and seminars in three distinct areas) has normally been completed.
Languages
Reading competence in one foreign language is demonstrated by examination, ideally early in the graduate career. The function of the exam is to test reading comprehension at a level which will allow effective use of the language in reading linguistic material.
Qualifying Papers
Students complete two qualifying papers (QPs) in distinct areas. Each QP represents an in-depth theoretical investigation into some natural language phenomenon, and is defended before a committee composed of three faculty members. QPs often lead to conference presentations or to journal publications. It is expected that the first QP be successfully defended in the second year, and the second QP in the third year.
Qualifying exam
Following successful completion of the two QPs, students must pass the qualifying exam (QE). This exam is the occasion on which a student demonstrates that she has achieved the level of competence and research-ability in a given area that is required for successful dissertation-level research. The QE is based on a substantial research paper written by the student (often a revised QP) and defended before a committee consisting of four members (three from within the department, one from without). Upon successful completion of this step, the student becomes a candidate for the degree.
Dissertation
The final requirement for the PhD degree is the presentation and public defense of a dissertation representing a significant contribution in some area of theoretical linguistic research. Prior to the writing of the thesis, the candidate prepares and defends a dissertation prospectus, which maps out the principal lines of research to be pursued.
Advising
In the course of the five-year program, students work closely with various faculty members, first through class work, then in preparing QPs, the dissertation prospectus, and the dissertation. The Graduate Director acts as advisor for first-year students in the typical case, but students should have chosen an advisor to work with more closely by their 4th quarter, the point at which the student’s own research program will have begun to take shape. In any case, every student should have a designated advisor at each point of his or her graduate career and should meet in person with that advisor at least once each quarter.
Students receive regular and detailed feedback on their progress by way of the UCSC system of Performance Evaluations (or ‘Narrative Evaluations’) of coursework. In addition, the faculty as a group regularly reviews the progress of each student. The first formal review in the student’s graduate career occurs at the end of the fall quarter of the second year (the Fourth Quarter Review). The outcome of this review, and advice regarding continuing progress, are communicated to the student in a letter from the department and in a conversation between the advisor and the student.
Teaching and Research Assistantships
After the first year, most PhD students receive some portion of their financial support from Teaching or Research Assistantships. A Teaching Assistantship involves the student in one of various undergraduate courses under the mentorship of the faculty instructor. It entails leading sections, holding office hours, and grading assignments and exams. The vast majority of Teaching Assistantships will be in Linguistics courses offered by the department, but students (depending on interests and aptitudes) may occasionally hold TAships in other departments and programs. After the student passes the qualifying exam and advances to candidacy, there are opportunities to take primary responsibility for teaching an undergraduate course, as a Teaching Fellow.
The MA Program
The MA degree involves a two-year course of study. It may be completed in one year by students who have a BA in Linguistics from UCSC and who have taken a number of the core graduate courses during their undergraduate career. For additional details, consult the MA Program Handbook.
Courses
The MA degree involves a two-year course of study. It may be completed in one year by students who have a BA in Linguistics from UCSC and who have taken a number of the core graduate courses during their undergraduate career. For additional details, consult the MA Program Handbook.
Languages
Reading competence in one foreign language is demonstrated by examination.
Master’s Thesis
Students complete one substantial research paper in linguistics, which is read by a committee composed of two faculty members in Linguistics.
Program Learning Outcomes
The campus conducts regular and meaningful assessment of its graduate programs to lead to their improvement. The Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) for both the PhD and MA program in linguistics are evaluated on an ongoing basis.
PhD program
Graduates from the PhD program should have acquired the following skills and knowledge:
- Mastery of the fundamental knowledge of linguistics in its broader scientific context
- Detailed mastery of one subarea of linguistics
- Ability to use the concepts and methods of linguistics to solve a problem with theoretical consequences
- Ability to do sustained independent research
MA program
Graduates from the MA program should have acquired the following skills and knowledge:
- Ability to do independent research
- Proficiency in the fundamental knowledge of linguistics
- Ability to use the concepts and methods of linguistics to solve a problem with theoretical consequences
- Ability to communicate concepts and results to other experts in the field
Graduate Life in the Department
The graduate program in linguistics at UCSC is small, focused, and intense. It concentrates on a few core subdisciplines in linguistics: morphology, phonetics, phonology, pragmatics, psycholinguistics, semantics, and syntax. The department is distinguished by its theoretical open-mindedness; many disparate theoretical viewpoints co-exist in harmony, mutual respect, and active disagreement. In part because everyone becomes knowledgeable in more than one area—and in part because of the lively research environment—borders are fluid, and a great deal of research by students and faculty takes place at the interfaces.
While the graduate program centers on theory, it encourages the investigation of theoretical issues through the detailed examination and analysis of particular languages. Most of the faculty have research interests and expertise in particular language areas (e.g. Chamorro, English, German, Hungarian, Irish, Japanese, Kaqchikel, Northern Paiute, and Persian (Farsi), Romanian, Russian, Turkish, Tzotzil), and a characteristic of work done in the department in all disciplines is its commitment to sustained and deep descriptive work.
The goal of the PhD degree is to train researchers and teachers of the highest caliber, ready to embark on careers in academia or in industry. Students are first brought to the point where they can pursue research in at least two areas, and subsequently to the point where they can make substantial and original contributions to a single area of specialization. The goal of the MA degree—which like the PhD requires both coursework and research—is to provide a level of training suitable for entry into a PhD program in linguistics or into linguistics-related work in industry.
The research community that has formed around these shared goals at UCSC is informal, collaborative, and egalitarian. This makes for a lively work environment. A regular colloquium series brings in speakers from other institutions to present their current research. In addition, there are labs, working groups, and reading groups in a variety of areas, where students and faculty come together to share new ideas and to ask questions in an informal setting, giving informal presentations, discussing papers, or giving practice talks for a conference.
A highlight of the year is Linguistics at Santa Cruz (LASC), the annual graduate student research conference, which is the culmination of a quarter-long professionalization course known as the Research Seminar. By presenting their papers to the entire department and interested visitors, graduate students gain valuable conference experience at an early point in their career. In addition, students who are completing their PhD present their dissertation at a defense that is open to the entire department.
Research projects supported by extramural funding agencies play an important role in Linguistics, and graduate students learn first-hand about the construction of grant proposals and the management of grants in the research process. First and second-year students receive close mentorship in grant writing through their participation in a workshop in the fall quarter, which culminates in their application for a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship.
Apart from its lively research life, the department is distinguished by its strong commitment to excellence in teaching (five of the eleven permanent faculty have won Teaching Excellence awards and many of its graduate students have won Outstanding Teaching Assistant awards). The graduate sequence of courses is tightly structured and carefully thought out, including explicit instruction in the pedagogy of linguistics.
The department has an undergraduate program to which it is very committed, and whose excellence is widely recognized. Graduate students are actively involved in undergraduate instruction; they teach under close supervision in their core areas of interest, and are closely mentored. Graduates of the PhD program emerge as experts and committed teachers, one reason they have been so successful in obtaining academic positions.
Finally, the campus itself, which is situated in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains overlooking the Monterey Bay, provides a work environment of unmatched natural beauty. Campus scenery alternates between coastal redwood forest and vistas of the harbor and of the bay.