Graduate Guide
Work on language has been one of the main research probes in philosophy and psychology for most of the 20th century and into the 21st. It has taken on a new momentum in the last fifty years, as a result of which productive investigations have yielded deep insights into the workings of language. This kind of research has proven to be one of the most fruitful means to cast light on the nature of the human mind and general cognitive capacity.
The Maryland program builds on these recent developments and trains students thoroughly in a research enterprise which tries to develop a detailed answer to these questions: How is a person's linguistic capacity represented in the mind? How does that representation reflect properties which are encoded innately? How is language acquired by young children? How can language be encoded as a computational or as a psychological or neurological system? Students investigate how various kinds of data bear on these central questions and how particular goals influence the shape of the technical analyses offered. To these ends, the department has assembled a faculty with strength in several subfields of linguistics. The program thus combines strength in the traditional areas of syntax/semantics and phonology/morphology with depth in the areas of language acquisition, sentence processing, computational and neurolinguistics.
While remaining focused, the department is interdisciplinary. That background enables students to evaluate proposals critically and make a contribution to research. They also become well-equipped to understand other enterprises, going to the primary literature and asking how the analyses contribute to reaching the stated goal. In addition, the program encourages students to study grammatical theory alongside in-depth work on languages. Analyses of phenomena which are not obvious in English have come to affect the shape of theoretical proposals. Fruitful work has come from those languages which have been studied carefully by groups of researchers sharing basic assumptions about the goals of grammatical theory. This forms the basis of the department's interest in comparative syntax and phonology.
Noteworthy features of the Maryland program:
[ back to top ]
Students pursuing the Ph.D. take at least 33 graduate-level credits of course-work, of which at least 9 credits are at the 800-level (seminars) and 6 credits correspond to the Minor area of specialization (possibly in another department). These minimum requirements are usually fulfilled by formal classes and not by independent studies, although the latter may be used to supplement a student's program of study. The student's first year is normally devoted to the "core", foundational coursework in the department's three primary research areas: (i) theoretical linguistics (syntax, semantics, phonology), (ii) psycholinguistics/neurolinguistics/language acquisition, (iii) computational linguistics. Students must take at least 6 core courses, comprising at least two 2-semester core course sequences. At least one of these core course sequences must be in an area of theoretical linguistics. The core courses are the 600-level LING courses and LING723 and LING773. The core sequences are:
In addition to satisfying (part of) the 9 credit requirement for seminars, the next two years are devoted to satisfying 6 credits (beyond any core courses) in the Minor, as approved by the Graduate Director.
By their fifth semester, students write a substantial paper (LING 895), under the supervision of a faculty member. This paper enables students to demonstrate a capacity for productive research and to make an original contribution to the literature, often forming the basis for the dissertation research. It is submitted to a three member examining committee, is defended publicly two weeks later, and must be approved by the committee after the defense. In addition, by their seventh semester students must also write a paper in their Minor area of specialization (or some other area that is not their major area); this must be submitted with the Minor Area Paper Approval form. [Under special circumstances, upon the written recommendation of the student's advisor and with the approval of the faculty of the department, a student may satisfy the Minor area paper requirement by taking a third course in the Minor area.] LING 895 and the Minor area paper replace the "comprehensive examinations" held in some departments.
After satisfactory completion of the 895 paper, students are admitted to candidacy and write a proposal for a dissertation, which a faculty member agrees to supervise. LING 899 is the course which students sign up for while writing the dissertation. Students must take 12 credits of this course. The dissertation must make a substantial and original contribution to knowledge. The supervisor, in consultation with other committee members (selected by student and supervisor), determines when there is a draft which will be defended publicly at an oral examination. The dissertation is approved by a five member examining committee. On completion of the approved dissertation, a hard copy will be submitted to the department, along with either a 2nd hard copy or else an electronic version for the department web page.
Courses offered by the department
Under exceptional circumstances, students are awarded an MA degree on completion of the core coursework requirements (six courses, see above), four further classes and writing either a MA thesis which is defended publicly (LING 799) or two comprehensive papers in different areas of language study (LING 798). Two of the post core-level class requirements should be taken in the Department of Linguistics, with the rest being taken either in Linguistics or in other departments satisfying a secondary area of specialization and complementing the student's work.
[ back to top ]
The department endeavors to provide students studying for the Ph.D. with financial aid (stipend + tuition) during their full course of study (5 years).
Funds are supplied through departmental graduate assistantships (GAs) that involve either teaching Ling200, assisting in other courses, or performing other departmental tasks. Funding is also available through research assistantships, typically in connection with research grants and contracts awarded to the department's faculty. The University also awards Recruitment fellowships to outstanding applicants, which fund students for two years, matched by 2 to 3 years of departmental funding. University Fellowships allow students to devote the first 2 years completely to graduate study with no outside responsibilities. The next 2-3 years require students to fulfill some GA responsibilities. Fellowships and GAs provide 12 and 10 credits of tuition remission respectively per semester. In additions to tuition remission, the Graduate Assistantship comes with Health benefits. The student is responsible for approximately $340.00 in mandatory student fees per semester.
All students are also encouraged to apply for outside sources of funding, e.g. National Science Foundation fellowships (US residents), SSHRC or NSERC fellowships (Canadian residents), etc. These outside fellowships are prestigious, typically release the student from teaching or other responsibilities, and often carry very attractive stipends.
If you are admitted with funding, your admission letter will specify the amount for your first year, and will specify duration of support. Funding is usually given for either four or five years subject to continued good performance in research, and progress towards the Ph.D. degree. The department will not use its GA funds to fund students for more than four years for students admitted before 1998 or five years for students admitted in 1998 or thereafter. A faculty member may request that a student working on a project for which the faculty member has obtained funding be funded for one extra year. This request must be approved by the department.
You should keep a copy of your admission letter, as the terms specified in that letter are what the department considers as its agreement with you. You will be notified of any amendment to these terms in writing. The department does not consider any verbal arrangements, or arrangements made by anyone other than the Chair or the graduate Director in writing as official. The department will also admit students without funding.
The Chair will ask students to request continuation of funding in March. All students (including those with funding during the previous year) who need money for the following year should request a continuation of funding at this time. Students who are not currently funded may also request a stipend . The faculty meets in March and will review all requests for funding. The department first reviews currently funded students to ensure that progress toward the degree is satisfactory and funds these students first if there is good progress. The department then reviews money left over from currently funded students and from money designated towards recruitment. Money not designated for either of these uses is issued to currently unfunded students, who the department ranks in terms of eligibility. The Chair will inform students about whether they either will definitely receive, possibly receive, or not receive funding for the coming year by April 15th. The graduate director or the advisor will also help students find support from other departments in the University, or from external sources. External funding can take time and students may not have a final decision until well after April 15th. If new funds become available after this date, the department notifies students, sometimes as late as a few weeks before the start of classes. The department does its very best to get support for its students.
Travel Support
The Department sets aside a small portion of its limited operating budget to support travel by faculty and graduate students to present papers at conferences. Any member of the Department can request up to $300 per year for this purpose. To make a request, fill out a Travel Request form -- located outside the Department Office. The request should be made before the trip, and is subject to (a) approval by the Department chair, (b) availability of funds, and (c) presentation of receipts upon completion of travel. Travel funds may be used only to present a paper -- requests to attend conferences will not be granted.
[ back to top ]
The Department is governed by the Departmental Council. The council has regular meetings called by the Chair of the department. All faculty, staff and students may attend these meetings. Minutes are available for public distribution. Students elect up to two representatives who may vote at council meetings. All faculty have a vote. In addition, the Department Chair is advised by the Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) . Problems may be discussed privately with the Graduate Director or the Chair, or may be put on the agenda for for. discussion at a Department Council meeting.
All graduate students in the department are members of the LGSA, which is the student representative body to the department council. The LGSA elects 2 representatives with voting privileges on the Dept. Council. In addition, the LGSA runs many of the activities that enrich department life. The LGSA recruits members to run the colloquium series (with help from a faculty advisor), organizes and runs the student conference, helps with the Maryland Mayfest, and coordinates yearly welcoming activities for new students. The LGSA holds several meetings per year where students can discuss issues of mutual concern. The bylaws of the LGSA can be found here.
[ back to top ]