ma thesis topics in linguistics

Syntax and Semantics

• The Tok Pisin noun phrase
• Towards an investigation of socially-conditioned semantic variation
• Definite article reduction in a religious community of practice
• The definiteness effect in Chinese 'you'-existential constructions: A corpus based study
• Topics and pronouns in the clausal left periphery in Old English
• Scalar implicatures in polar (yes/no) questions
• Quantification, alternative semantics and phases
• The syntax and semantics of V2 – 'weil' in German 
• An analysis of Chinese quantifiers 'ge', 'dou' and 'quan' and their co-occurrence
• Distribution and licensing condititions of Negative Polarity Items in Mandarin Chinese
• The NP/DP Distinction in Slavic: A comparative approach
• A complex predicational analysis of the 'ba'-construction in Mandarin Chinese
• Two types of raising in Korean
• Serial verb constructions in Mandarin Chinese
• From Turncoats to Backstabbers:  How headedness and word order determine the productivity of agentive and instrumental compounding in English

Forensic Phonetics

• An Investigation into the Perceived Similarity of the Speech of Identical Twins and Same Sex Siblings
• Detecting Authenticity of Audio Files Compressed by Social Media Platforms
• Investigating Changes from Neutral to Soft and Whispered Speech and their Impact on Automatic Speaker Recognition
• The Effect of Anger and Fear on Forensic Authomatic Speaker Recognition System Performance
• The Impact of Face Coverings on Speech Comprehension and Perceptions of Speaker Attributes
• Tracking Linguistic Differences in the Ultrasound Images of the Tongue in Spoken and Silent Speech Conditions Using Pose Estimation

Who to contact Postgraduate Administrator linguistics-pg-admissions@ york.ac.uk

Related information How to apply Why York? For international students Frequently asked questions Recent PhD dissertations

Department of Language and Linguistic Science University of York , York , YO10 5DD , UK Tel: work +44 (0)1904 322650 | [email protected]

Legal statements | Privacy | Cookies | Accessibility © University of York | Modify | Direct Edit

• How It Works
• PhD thesis writing
• Master thesis writing
• Bachelor thesis writing
• Dissertation writing service
• Dissertation abstract writing
• Thesis proposal writing
• Thesis editing service
• Thesis proofreading service
• Thesis formatting service
• Coursework writing service
• Research paper writing service
• Architecture thesis writing
• Computer science thesis writing
• Engineering thesis writing
• History thesis writing
• MBA thesis writing
• Nursing dissertation writing
• Psychology dissertation writing
• Sociology thesis writing
• Statistics dissertation writing
• Buy dissertation online
• Write my dissertation
• Cheap thesis
• Cheap dissertation
• Custom dissertation
• Dissertation help
• Pay for thesis
• Pay for dissertation
• Senior thesis
• Write my thesis

211 Research Topics in Linguistics To Get Top Grades

Many people find it hard to decide on their linguistics research topics because of the assumed complexities involved. They struggle to choose easy research paper topics for English language too because they think it could be too simple for a university or college level certificate.

All that you need to learn about Linguistics and English is sprawled across syntax, phonetics, morphology, phonology, semantics, grammar, vocabulary, and a few others. To easily create a top-notch essay or conduct a research study, you can consider this list of research topics in English language below for your university or college use. Note that you can fine-tune these to suit your interests.

Linguistics Research Paper Topics

If you want to study how language is applied and its importance in the world, you can consider these Linguistics topics for your research paper. They are:

• An analysis of romantic ideas and their expression amongst French people
• An overview of the hate language in the course against religion
• Identify the determinants of hate language and the means of propagation
• Evaluate a literature and examine how Linguistics is applied to the understanding of minor languages
• Consider the impact of social media in the development of slangs
• An overview of political slang and its use amongst New York teenagers
• Examine the relevance of Linguistics in a digitalized world
• Analyze foul language and how it’s used to oppress minors
• Identify the role of language in the national identity of a socially dynamic society
• Attempt an explanation to how the language barrier could affect the social life of an individual in a new society
• Discuss the means through which language can enrich cultural identities
• Examine the concept of bilingualism and how it applies in the real world
• Analyze the possible strategies for teaching a foreign language
• Discuss the priority of teachers in the teaching of grammar to non-native speakers
• Choose a school of your choice and observe the slang used by its students: analyze how it affects their social lives
• Attempt a critical overview of racist languages
• What does endangered language means and how does it apply in the real world?
• A critical overview of your second language and why it is a second language
• What are the motivators of speech and why are they relevant?
• Analyze the difference between the different types of communications and their significance to specially-abled persons
• Give a critical overview of five literature on sign language
• Evaluate the distinction between the means of language comprehension between an adult and a teenager
• Consider a native American group and evaluate how cultural diversity has influenced their language
• Analyze the complexities involved in code-switching and code-mixing
• Give a critical overview of the importance of language to a teenager
• Attempt a forensic overview of language accessibility and what it means
• What do you believe are the means of communications and what are their uniqueness?
• Attempt a study of Islamic poetry and its role in language development
• Attempt a study on the role of Literature in language development
• Evaluate the Influence of metaphors and other literary devices in the depth of each sentence
• Identify the role of literary devices in the development of proverbs in any African country
• Cognitive Linguistics: analyze two pieces of Literature that offers a critical view of perception
• Identify and analyze the complexities in unspoken words
• Expression is another kind of language: discuss
• Identify the significance of symbols in the evolution of language
• Discuss how learning more than a single language promote cross-cultural developments
• Analyze how the loss of a mother tongue affect the language Efficiency of a community
• Critically examine how sign language works
• Using literature from the medieval era, attempt a study of the evolution of language
• Identify how wars have led to the reduction in the popularity of a language of your choice across any country of the world
• Critically examine five Literature on why accent changes based on environment
• What are the forces that compel the comprehension of language in a child
• Identify and explain the difference between the listening and speaking skills and their significance in the understanding of language
• Give a critical overview of how natural language is processed
• Examine the influence of language on culture and vice versa
• It is possible to understand a language even without living in that society: discuss
• Identify the arguments regarding speech defects
• Discuss how the familiarity of language informs the creation of slangs
• Explain the significance of religious phrases and sacred languages
• Explore the roots and evolution of incantations in Africa

Sociolinguistic Research Topics

You may as well need interesting Linguistics topics based on sociolinguistic purposes for your research. Sociolinguistics is the study and recording of natural speech. It’s primarily the casual status of most informal conversations. You can consider the following Sociolinguistic research topics for your research:

• What makes language exceptional to a particular person?
• How does language form a unique means of expression to writers?
• Examine the kind of speech used in health and emergencies
• Analyze the language theory explored by family members during dinner
• Evaluate the possible variation of language based on class
• Evaluate the language of racism, social tension, and sexism
• Discuss how Language promotes social and cultural familiarities
• Give an overview of identity and language
• Examine why some language speakers enjoy listening to foreigners who speak their native language
• Give a forensic analysis of his the language of entertainment is different to the language in professional settings
• Give an understanding of how Language changes
• Examine the Sociolinguistics of the Caribbeans
• Consider an overview of metaphor in France
• Explain why the direct translation of written words is incomprehensible in Linguistics
• Discuss the use of language in marginalizing a community
• Analyze the history of Arabic and the culture that enhanced it
• Discuss the growth of French and the influences of other languages
• Examine how the English language developed and its interdependence on other languages
• Give an overview of cultural diversity and Linguistics in teaching
• Challenge the attachment of speech defect with disability of language listening and speaking abilities
• Explore the uniqueness of language between siblings
• Explore the means of making requests between a teenager and his parents
• Observe and comment on how students relate with their teachers through language
• Observe and comment on the communication of strategy of parents and teachers
• Examine the connection of understanding first language with academic excellence

Language Research Topics

Numerous languages exist in different societies. This is why you may seek to understand the motivations behind language through these Linguistics project ideas. You can consider the following interesting Linguistics topics and their application to language:

• What does language shift mean?
• Discuss the stages of English language development?
• Examine the position of ambiguity in a romantic Language of your choice
• Why are some languages called romantic languages?
• Observe the strategies of persuasion through Language
• Discuss the connection between symbols and words
• Identify the language of political speeches
• Discuss the effectiveness of language in an indigenous cultural revolution
• Trace the motivators for spoken language
• What does language acquisition mean to you?
• Examine three pieces of literature on language translation and its role in multilingual accessibility
• Identify the science involved in language reception
• Interrogate with the context of language disorders
• Examine how psychotherapy applies to victims of language disorders
• Study the growth of Hindi despite colonialism
• Critically appraise the term, language erasure
• Examine how colonialism and war is responsible for the loss of language
• Give an overview of the difference between sounds and letters and how they apply to the German language
• Explain why the placement of verb and preposition is different in German and English languages
• Choose two languages of your choice and examine their historical relationship
• Discuss the strategies employed by people while learning new languages
• Discuss the role of all the figures of speech in the advancement of language
• Analyze the complexities of autism and its victims
• Offer a linguist approach to language uniqueness between a Down Syndrome child and an autist
• Express dance as a language
• Express music as a language
• Express language as a form of language
• Evaluate the role of cultural diversity in the decline of languages in South Africa
• Discuss the development of the Greek language
• Critically review two literary texts, one from the medieval era and another published a decade ago, and examine the language shifts

Linguistics Essay Topics

You may also need Linguistics research topics for your Linguistics essays. As a linguist in the making, these can help you consider controversies in Linguistics as a discipline and address them through your study. You can consider:

• The connection of sociolinguistics in comprehending interests in multilingualism
• Write on your belief of how language encourages sexism
• What do you understand about the differences between British and American English?
• Discuss how slangs grew and how they started
• Consider how age leads to loss of language
• Review how language is used in formal and informal conversation
• Discuss what you understand by polite language
• Discuss what you know by hate language
• Evaluate how language has remained flexible throughout history
• Mimicking a teacher is a form of exercising hate Language: discuss
• Body Language and verbal speech are different things: discuss
• Language can be exploitative: discuss
• Do you think language is responsible for inciting aggression against the state?
• Can you justify the structural representation of any symbol of your choice?
• Religious symbols are not ordinary Language: what are your perspective on day-to-day languages and sacred ones?
• Consider the usage of language by an English man and someone of another culture
• Discuss the essence of code-mixing and code-switching
• Attempt a psychological assessment on the role of language in academic development
• How does language pose a challenge to studying?
• Choose a multicultural society of your choice and explain the problem they face
• What forms does Language use in expression?
• Identify the reasons behind unspoken words and actions
• Why do universal languages exist as a means of easy communication?
• Examine the role of the English language in the world
• Examine the role of Arabic in the world
• Examine the role of romantic languages in the world
• Evaluate the significance of each teaching Resources in a language classroom
• Consider an assessment of language analysis
• Why do people comprehend beyond what is written or expressed?
• What is the impact of hate speech on a woman?
• Do you believe that grammatical errors are how everyone’s comprehension of language is determined?
• Observe the Influence of technology in language learning and development
• Which parts of the body are responsible for understanding new languages
• How has language informed development?
• Would you say language has improved human relations or worsened it considering it as a tool for violence?
• Would you say language in a black populous state is different from its social culture in white populous states?
• Give an overview of the English language in Nigeria
• Give an overview of the English language in Uganda
• Give an overview of the English language in India
• Give an overview of Russian in Europe
• Give a conceptual analysis on stress and how it works
• Consider the means of vocabulary development and its role in cultural relationships
• Examine the effects of Linguistics in language
• Present your understanding of sign language
• What do you understand about descriptive language and prescriptive Language?

List of Research Topics in English Language

You may need English research topics for your next research. These are topics that are socially crafted for you as a student of language in any institution. You can consider the following for in-depth analysis:

• Examine the travail of women in any feminist text of your choice
• Examine the movement of feminist literature in the Industrial period
• Give an overview of five Gothic literature and what you understand from them
• Examine rock music and how it emerged as a genre
• Evaluate the cultural association with Nina Simone’s music
• What is the relevance of Shakespeare in English literature?
• How has literature promoted the English language?
• Identify the effect of spelling errors in the academic performance of students in an institution of your choice
• Critically survey a university and give rationalize the literary texts offered as Significant
• Examine the use of feminist literature in advancing the course against patriarchy
• Give an overview of the themes in William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”
• Express the significance of Ernest Hemingway’s diction in contemporary literature
• Examine the predominant devices in the works of William Shakespeare
• Explain the predominant devices in the works of Christopher Marlowe
• Charles Dickens and his works: express the dominating themes in his Literature
• Why is Literature described as the mirror of society?
• Examine the issues of feminism in Sefi Atta’s “Everything Good Will Come” and Bernadine Evaristos’s “Girl, Woman, Other”
• Give an overview of the stylistics employed in the writing of “Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernadine Evaristo
• Describe the language of advertisement in social media and newspapers
• Describe what poetic Language means
• Examine the use of code-switching and code-mixing on Mexican Americans
• Examine the use of code-switching and code-mixing in Indian Americans
• Discuss the influence of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” on satirical literature
• Examine the Linguistics features of “Native Son” by Richard Wright
• What is the role of indigenous literature in promoting cultural identities
• How has literature informed cultural consciousness?
• Analyze five literature on semantics and their Influence on the study
• Assess the role of grammar in day to day communications
• Observe the role of multidisciplinary approaches in understanding the English language
• What does stylistics mean while analyzing medieval literary texts?
• Analyze the views of philosophers on language, society, and culture

English Research Paper Topics for College Students

For your college work, you may need to undergo a study of any phenomenon in the world. Note that they could be Linguistics essay topics or mainly a research study of an idea of your choice. Thus, you can choose your research ideas from any of the following:

• The concept of fairness in a democratic Government
• The capacity of a leader isn’t in his or her academic degrees
• The concept of discrimination in education
• The theory of discrimination in Islamic states
• The idea of school policing
• A study on grade inflation and its consequences
• A study of taxation and Its importance to the economy from a citizen’s perspectives
• A study on how eloquence lead to discrimination amongst high school students
• A study of the influence of the music industry in teens
• An Evaluation of pornography and its impacts on College students
• A descriptive study of how the FBI works according to Hollywood
• A critical consideration of the cons and pros of vaccination
• The health effect of sleep disorders
• An overview of three literary texts across three genres of Literature and how they connect to you
• A critical overview of “King Oedipus”: the role of the supernatural in day to day life
• Examine the novel “12 Years a Slave” as a reflection of servitude and brutality exerted by white slave owners
• Rationalize the emergence of racist Literature with concrete examples
• A study of the limits of literature in accessing rural readers
• Analyze the perspectives of modern authors on the Influence of medieval Literature on their craft
• What do you understand by the mortality of a literary text?
• A study of controversial Literature and its role in shaping the discussion
• A critical overview of three literary texts that dealt with domestic abuse and their role in changing the narratives about domestic violence
• Choose three contemporary poets and analyze the themes of their works
• Do you believe that contemporary American literature is the repetition of unnecessary themes already treated in the past?
• A study of the evolution of Literature and its styles
• The use of sexual innuendos in literature
• The use of sexist languages in literature and its effect on the public
• The disaster associated with media reports of fake news
• Conduct a study on how language is used as a tool for manipulation
• Attempt a criticism of a controversial Literary text and why it shouldn’t be studied or sold in the first place

Finding Linguistics Hard To Write About?

With these topics, you can commence your research with ease. However, if you need professional writing help for any part of the research, you can scout here online for the best research paper writing service.

There are several expert writers on ENL hosted on our website that you can consider for a fast response on your research study at a cheap price.

As students, you may be unable to cover every part of your research on your own. This inability is the reason you should consider expert writers for custom research topics in Linguistics approved by your professor for high grades.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment * Error message

Name * Error message

Email * Error message

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

As Putin continues killing civilians, bombing kindergartens, and threatening WWIII, Ukraine fights for the world's peaceful future.

Ukraine Live Updates

Home > School, College, or Department > CLAS > Applied Linguistics > Dissertations and Theses

Applied Linguistics Dissertations and Theses

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

Critical Analysis of Anti-Asian Hate in the News , Benardo Douglas Relampagos

A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of NASA's Instagram Account , Danica Lynn Tomber

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

A Computer Science Academic Vocabulary List , David Roesler

Variation in Female and Male Dialogue in Buffy the Vampire Slayer : A Multi-dimensional Analysis , Amber Morgan Sanchez

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Differences in Syntactic Complexity in the Writing of EL1 and ELL Civil Engineering Students , Santiago Gustin

A Mixed Methods Analysis of Corpus Data from Reddit Discussions of "Gay Voice" , Sara Elizabeth Mulliner

Relationship Between Empathy and Language Proficiency in Adult Language Learners , Mika Sakai

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

College Student Rankings of Multiple Speakers in a Public Speaking Context: a Language Attitudes Study on Japanese-accented English with a World Englishes Perspective , John James Ahlbrecht

Grammatical Errors by Arabic ESL Students: an Investigation of L1 Transfer through Error Analysis , Aisha Saud Alasfour

Foreign Language Anxiety, Sexuality, and Gender: Lived Experiences of Four LGBTQ+ Students , James Donald Mitchell

Verb Stem Alternation in Vaiphei , Jesse Prichard

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Teacher and Student Perceptions of World Englishes (WE) Pronunciations in two US Settings , Marie Arrieta

Escalating Language at Traffic Stops: Two Case Studies , Jamalieh Haley

Lexical Bundles in Applied Linguistics and Literature Writing: a Comparison of Intermediate English Learners and Professionals , Kathryn Marie Johnston

Multilingualism and Multiculturalism: Opinions from Spanish-Speaking English Learners from Mexico, Central America, and South America , Cailey Catherine Moe

An Analytical System for Determining Disciplinary Vocabulary for Data-Driven Learning: an Example from Civil Engineering , Philippa Jean Otto

Loanwords in Context: Lexical Borrowing from English to Japanese and its Effects on Second-Language Vocabulary Acquisition , Andrew Michael Sowers

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

The Effect of Extended Instruction on Passive Voice, Reduced Relative Clauses, and Modal Would in the Academic Writing of Advanced English Language Learners , Audrey Bailey

Identity Construction and Language Use by Immigrant Women in a Microenterprise Development Program , Linda Eve Bonder

"That's the test?" Washback Effects of an Alternative Assessment in a Culturally Heterogeneous EAP University Class , Abigail Bennett Carrigan

Wiki-based Collaborative Creative Writing in the ESL Classroom , Rima Elabdali

A Study of the Intelligibility, Comprehensibility and Interpretability of Standard Marine Communication Phrases as Perceived by Chinese Mariners , Lillian Christine Holland

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Empowering All Who Teach: A Portrait of Two Non-Native English Speaking Teachers in a Globalized 21st Century , Rosa Dene David

A Corpus Based Analysis of Noun Modification in Empirical Research Articles in Applied Linguistics , Jo-Anne Hutter

Sound Effects: Age, Gender, and Sound Symbolism in American English , Timothy Allen Krause

Perspectives on the College Readiness and Outcome Achievement of Former Intensive English Language Program (IELP) Students , Meghan Oswalt

The Cognitive Development of Expertise in an ESL Teacher: A Case Study , Lyndsey Roos

Identity and Investment in the Community ESL Classroom , Jennifer Marie Sacklin

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Code Switching Between Tamazight and Arabic in the First Libyan Berber News Broadcast: An Application of Myers-Scotton's MLF and 4M Models , Ashour S. Abdulaziz

Self-Efficacy in Low-Level English Language Learners , Laura F. Blumenthal

The Impact of Wiki-based Collaborative Writing on English L2 Learners' Individual Writing Development , Gina Christina Caruso

Latino Men Managing HIV: An Appraisal Analysis of Intersubjective Relations in the Discourse of Five Research Interviews , Will Caston

Opportunities for Incidental Acquisition of Academic Vocabulary from Teacher Speech in an English for Academic Purposes Classroom , Eric Dean Dodson

Emerging Lexical Organization from Intentional Vocabulary Learning , Adam Jones

Effects of the First Language on Japanese ESL Learners' Answers to Negative Questions , Kosuke Kanda

"Had sh'er haute gamme, high technology": An Application of the MLF and 4-M Models to French-Arabic Codeswitching in Algerian Hip Hop , Samuel Nickilaus McLain-Jespersen

Is Self-Sufficiency Really Sufficient? A Critical Analysis of Federal Refugee Resettlement Policy and Local Attendant English Language Training in Portland, Oregon , Domminick McParland

Explorations into the Psycholinguistic Validity of Extended Collocations , J. Arianna Morgan

A Comparison of Linguistic Features in the Academic Writing of Advanced English Language Learner and English First Language University Students , Margo K. Russell

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

The First Year: Development of Preservice Teacher Beliefs About Teaching and Learning During Year One of an MA TESOL Program , Emily Spady Addiego

L1 Influence on L2 Intonation in Russian Speakers of English , Christiane Fleur Crosby

English Loan Words in Japanese: Exploring Comprehension and Register , Naoko Horikawa

The Role of Expectations on Nonnative English Speaking Students' Wrtiting , Sara Marie Van Dan Acker

Hypothetical Would-Clauses in Korean EFL Textbooks: An Analysis Based on a Corpus Study and Focus on Form Approach , Soyung Yoo

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

Negative Transfer in the Writing of Proficient Students of Russian: A Comparison of Heritage Language Learners and Second Language Learners , Daria Aleeva

Informal Learning Choices of Japanese ESL Students in the United States , Brent Harrison Amburgey

Iktomi: A Character Traits Analysis of a Dakota Culture Myth , Marianne Sue Kastner

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

Motivation in Late Learners of Japanese: Self-Determination Theory, Attitudes and Pronunciation , Shannon Guinn-Collins

Foreign Language Students' Beliefs about Homestays , Sara Racheal Juveland

Teaching Intonation Patterns through Reading Aloud , Micah William Park

Disordered Thought, Disordered Language: A corpus-based description of the speech of individuals undergoing treatment for schizophrenia , Lucas Carl Steuber

Emotion Language and Emotion Narratives of Turkish-English Late Bilinguals , Melike Yücel Koç

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

A Library and its Community: Exploring Perceptions of Collaboration , Phoebe Vincenza Daurio

A Structural and Functional Analysis of Codeswitching in Mi Vida Gitana 'My Gypsy Life,' a Bilingual Play , Gustavo Javier Fernandez

Writing Chinuk Wawa: A Materials Development Case Study , Sarah A. Braun Hamilton

Teacher Evaluation of Item Formats for an English Language Proficiency Assessment , Jose Luis Perea-Hernandez

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Building Community and Bridging Cultures: the Role of Volunteer Tutors in Oregon’s Latino Serving Community-Based Organizations , Troy Vaughn Hickman

Theses/Dissertations from 2007 2007

Beyond the Classroom Walls: a Study of Out-Of-Class English Use by Adult Community College ESL Students , Tracey Louise Knight

Theses/Dissertations from 2004 2004

A Dialect Study of Oregon NORMs , Lisa Wittenberg Hillyard

Theses/Dissertations from 2003 2003

The Acquisition of a Stage Dialect , Nathaniel George Halloran

Self-perceptions of non-native English speaking teachers of English as a second language , Kathryn Ann Long

The Development of Language Choice in a German Immersion School , Miranda Kussmaul Novash

Theses/Dissertations from 2002 2002

Writing in the Contact Zone: Three Portraits of Reflexivity and Transformation , Laurene L. Christensen

A Linguistic Evaluation of the Somali Women's Self Sufficiency Project , Ann Marie Kasper

Theses/Dissertations from 2001 2001

Attitudes at the Bank : A Survey of Reactions to Different Varieties of English , Sean Wilcox

Theses/Dissertations from 2000 2000

A Comparison of the Child Directed Speech of Traditional Dads With That of Stay-At-Home Dads , Judith Nancarrow Barr

Error Correction Preferences of Latino ESL Students , John Burrell

The Relationship Between Chinese Character Recognition Strategies and the Success of Character Memorization for Students of Mandarin Chinese , Hui-yen Emmy Chen

Portland dialect study: the story of /æ/ in Portland , Jeffrey C. Conn

On Communicative Competence : Its Nature and Origin , Mary Lou Emerson

The Influence of Cultural Backgrounds on the Interpretations of Literature Texts Used in the ESL Classroom , Barbara Jostrom Gates

Chinese Numeratives and the Mass/Count Distinction , David Goodman

Learning, Motivation, and Self : A Diary Study of an ESL Teacher’s Year in a Japanese Language Classroom , Laura Ruth Hawks

Portland Dialect Study - High Rising Terminal Contours (HRTs) in Portland Speech , Rebecca A. Wolff

Theses/Dissertations from 1998 1998

The Bolinger Principle and Teaching the Gerunds and Infinitives , Anna Maria Baratta-Zborowski

Training for Volunteer Teachers in Church-Affiliated English Language Mission Programs , Janet Noreen Blackwood

Šawaš ılıˀ--šawaš wawa: A Participant Observation Case Study of Language Planning by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon , Gregry Michael Davis

Phonological Processing of Japanese Kanji Characters , Randy L. Evans

Academic ESL Reading : Semantic Mapping and Lexical Acquisition , Jeffrey Darin Maggard

The Representation of Gender in Current ESL Reading Materials , Kyunghee Ma

Perception of English Passives by Japanese ESL Learners : Do Adversity Passives in L1 Transfer? , Koichi Sawasaki

Theses/Dissertations from 1997 1997

Non-Literate Students in Adult Beginning English as a Second Language Classrooms - A Case Study , Sandra Lynn Banke

A Case Study of Twelve Japanese ESL Students' Use of Interaction Modifications , Darin Dooley

The Home-School Connection: Parental Influences on a Child's ESL Acquisition , Catharine Jauhiainen

A Comparison of Two Second Language Acquisition Models for Culturally and Linguistically Different Students , Karen Dorothy Kuhn

ESL CD-ROM Principles and their Application: A Software Evaluation , Stephanie Burgi LaMonica

Developing a Language in Education Policy for Post-apartheid South Africa: A Case Study , Nancy Murray

Video Self-Monitoring as an Alternative to Traditional Methods of Pronunciation Instruction , P. C. Noble

Analysis of Rhetorical Organization and Style Patterns in Korean and American Business Fax Letters of Complaint in English , Mi Young Park

The Importance of Time for Processing in Second Language Comprehension and Acquisition , Jennifer Lee Watson

Theses/Dissertations from 1996 1996

The Constraints of a Typological Implicational Universal for Interrogatives on Second Language Acquisition , Dee Anne Bess

An Assessment of the Needs of International Students for Student Services at Southern Oregon State College , Molly K. Emmons

The relationship between a pre-departure training program and its participants' intercultural communication competence , Daniel Timothy Ferguson

An Exploratory Evaluation of Language and Culture Contact by Japanese Sojourners in a Short-term US Academic Program , Elizabeth Anna Hartley

Correction of Classroom Oral Errors: Preferences among University Students of English in Japan , Akemi Katayama

An Analysis of Japanese Learners' Comprehension of Intonation in English , Misako Okubo

An Evaluation of English Spoken Fluency of Thai Graduate Students in the United States , Sugunya Ruangjaroon

A Cross-cultural Study of the Speech Act of Refusing in English and German , Charla Margaret Teufel

Theses/Dissertations from 1995 1995

An Examination of the English Vocabulary Knowledge of Adult English-for-Academic-Purposes Students: Correlation with English Second-Language Proficiency and the Validity of Yes/No Vocabulary Tests , Robert Scott Fetter

English in the Workplace: Case Study of a Pilot Program , Kim Roth Franklin

Advanced Search

• Notify me via email or RSS
• Featured Collections
• All Authors
• Schools & Colleges
• Dissertations & Theses
• PDXOpen Textbooks
• Conferences
• Collections
• Disciplines
• Faculty Expert Gallery
• Submit Research
• Faculty Profiles
• Terms of Use
• Feedback Form

Home | About | My Account | Accessibility Statement | Portland State University

Privacy Copyright

Edinburgh Research Archive

•   ERA Home
• Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, School of
• Linguistics and English Language

Linguistics and English Language Masters thesis collection

By Issue Date Authors Titles Subjects Publication Type Sponsor Supervisors

Search within this Collection:

This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.

Recent Submissions

Unpacking the history of middle chinese *ɣu- in the yue dialects in guangdong: a dialect geographical analysis , perception and production of singular they in british english , cross-dialect variation in dinka tonal morphology , morphophonological interactions in shilluk: an investigation into the tone system and suffixation patterns in the gar dialect , vowel duration in the standard english of scotland , linguicide or linguistic suicide: a case study of indigenous minority languages in france , combining translation into the second language and second language learning : an integrated computational approach , post-critical period age of arrival and its relationship to ultimate attainment in a second language , hci for development: does sense of agency affect the adoption of a mobile health insurance service in tanzania , language policy and planning in xinjiang uygur autonomous region of china , comparable structural priming from comprehension and production: evidence against error-based learning of syntactic structure , developing educational games for teaching children with special educational needs , variation in the speech of university students from edinburgh: the cases of /x/ and // , a diachronic constructional investigation into the adverse avertive schema in chinese , onset consonants and the perceptions of tone and voicing in thai , simulating the interaction between mindreading and language in development and evolution , in task-oriented dyadic dialogue, how do non-native speakers of english align with each other in terms of lexical choices , native english speakers' music ability and their perception and production of l2 mandarin tones , a study of cmc language switching in china , the cognitive processes involved with hitting a fastball and why the baseball axiom "keeping your eye on the ball" is an exercise in futility .

BYU ScholarsArchive

Home > Humanities > Linguistics > Theses and Dissertations

Linguistics Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2022 2022.

Temporal Fluency in L2 Self-Assessments: A Cross-Linguistic Study of Spanish, Portuguese, and French , Mandy Case

Biblical Hebrew as a Negative Concord Language , J. Bradley Dukes

Revitalizing the Russian of a Heritage Speaker , Aaron Jordan

Analyzing Patterns of Complexity in Pre-University L2 English Writing , Zachary M. Lambert

Prosodic Modeling for Hymn Translation , Michael Abraham Peck

Interpretive Language and Museum Artwork: How Patrons Respond to Depictions of Native American and White Settler Encounters--A Thematic Analysis , Holli D. Rogerson

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Trademarks and Genericide: A Corpus and Experimental Approach to Understanding the Semantic Status of Trademarks , Richard B. Bevan

First and Second Language Use of Case, Aspect, and Tense in Finnish and English , Torin Kelley

Lexical Aspect in-sha Verb Chains in Pastaza Kichwa , Azya Dawn Ladd

Text-to-Speech Systems: Learner Perceptions of its Use as a Tool in the Language Classroom , Joseph Chi Man Mak

The Effects of Dynamic Written Corrective Feedback on the Accuracy and Complexity of Writing Produced by L2 Graduate Students , Lisa Rohm

Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions as Applied to Motivation in L2 Vocabulary Acquisition , Lindsay Michelle Stephenson

Linguistics of Russian Media During the 2016 US Election: A Corpus-Based Study , Devon K. Terry

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Portuguese and Chinese ESL Reading Behaviors Compared: An Eye-Tracking Study , Logan Kyle Blackwell

Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions to Lower Test Anxiety , Asena Cakmakci

The Categorization of Ideophone-Gesture Composites in Quichua Narratives , Maria Graciela Cano

Ranking Aspect-Based Features in Restaurant Reviews , Jacob Ling Hang Chan

Praise in Written Feedback: How L2 Writers Perceive and Value Praise , Karla Coca

Evidence for a Typology of Christ in the Book of Esther , L. Clayton Fausett

Gender Vs. Sex: Defining Meaning in a Modern World through use of Corpora and Semantic Surveys , Mary Elizabeth Garceau

The attributive suffix in Pastaza Kichwa , Barrett Wilson Hamp

An Examination of Motivation Types and Their Influence on English Proficiency for Current High School Students in South Korean , Euiyong Jung

Experienced ESL Teachers' Attitudes Towards Using Phonetic Symbols in Teaching English Pronunciation to Adult ESL Students , Oxana Kodirova

Evidentiality, Epistemic Modality and Mirativity: The Case of Cantonese Utterance Particles Ge3, Laak3, and Lo1 , Ka Fai Law

Application of a Self-Regulation Framework in an ESL Classroom: Effects on IEP International Students , Claudia Mencarelli

Parsing an American Sign Language Corpus with Combinatory Categorial Grammar , Michael Albert Nix

An Exploration of Mental Contrasting and Social Networks of English Language Learners , Adam T. Pinkston

A Corpus-Based Study of the Gender Assignment of Nominal Anglicisms in Brazilian Portuguese , Taryn Marie Skahill

Developing Listening Comprehension in ESL Students at the Intermediate Level by Reading Transcripts While Listening: A Cognitive Load Perspective , Sydney Sohler

The Effect of Language Learning Experience on Motivation and Anxiety of Foreign Language Learning Students , Josie Eileen Thacker

Identifying Language Needs in Community-Based Adult ELLs: Findings from an Ethnography of Four Salvadoran Immigrants in the Western United States , Kathryn Anne Watkins

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Using Eye Tracking to Examine Working Memory and Verbal Feature Processing in Spanish , Erik William Arnold

Self-Regulation in Transition: A Case Study of Three English Language Learners at an IEP , Allison Wallace Baker

"General Conference talk": Style Variation and the Styling of Identity in Latter-day Saint General Conference Oratory , Stephen Thomas Betts

Implementing Mental Contrasting to Improve English Language Learner Social Networks , Hannah Trimble Brown

Comparing Academic Vocabulary List (AVL) Frequency Bands to Leveled Biology and History Texts , Lynne Crandall

A Comparison of Mobile and Computer Receptive Language ESL Tests , Aislin Pickett Davis

Yea, Yea, Nay, Nay: Uses of the Archaic, Biblical Yea in the Book of Mormon , Michael Edward De Martini

L1 and L2 Reading Behaviors by Proficiency Level: An English-Portuguese Eye-Tracking Study , Larissa Grahl

Immediate Repeated Reading has Positive Effects on Reading Fluency for English Language Learners: An Eye-tracking Study , Jennifer Hemmert Hansen

Perceptions of Malaysian English Teachers Regarding the Importation of Expatriate Native and Nonnative English-speaking Teachers , Syringa Joanah Judd

Sociocultural Identification with the United States and English Pronunciation Comprehensibility and Accent Among International ESL Students , Christinah Paige Mulder

The Effects of Repeated Reading on the Fluency of Intermediate-Level English-as-a-Second-Language Learners: An Eye-Tracking Study , Krista Carlene Rich

Verb Usage in Egyptian Movies, Serials, and Blogs: A Case for Register Variation , Michael G. White

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Factors Influencing ESL Students' Selection of Intensive English Programs in the Western United States , Katie Briana Blanco

Pun Strategies Across Joke Schemata: A Corpus-Based Study , Robert Nishan Crapo

ESL Students' Reading Behaviors on Multiple-Choice Items at Differing Proficiency Levels: An Eye-Tracking Study , Juan M. Escalante Talavera

Backward Transfer of Apology Strategies from Japanese to English: Do English L1 Speakers Use Japanese-Style Apologies When Speaking English? , Candice April Flowers

Cultural Differences in Russian and English Magazine Advertising: A Pragmatic Approach , Emily Kay Furner

An Analysis of Rehearsed Speech Characteristics on the Oral Proficiency Interview—Computer (OPIc) , Gwyneth Elaine Gates

Predicting Speaking, Listening, and Reading Proficiency Gains During Study Abroad Using Social Network Metrics , Timothy James Hall

Navigating a New Culture: Analyzing Variables that Influence Intensive English Program Students' Cultural Adjustment Process , Sherie Lyn Kwok

Second Language Semantic Retrieval in the Bilingual Mind: The Case of Korean-English Expert Bilinguals , Janice Si-Man Lam

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Korean Heritage-Speaking Interpreter , Yoonjoo Lee

Reading Idioms: A Comparative Eye-Tracking Study of Native English Speakers and Native Korean Speakers , Sarah Lynne Miner

Applying the Developmental Path of English Negation to the Automated Scoring of Learner Essays , Allen Travis Moore

Performance Self-Appraisal Calibration of ESL Students on a Proficiency Reading Test , Jodi Mikolajcik Petersen

Switch-Reference in Pastaza Kichwa , Alexander Harrison Rice

The Effects of Metacognitive Listening Strategy Instruction on ESL Learners' Listening Motivation , Corbin Kalanikiakahi Rivera

The Effects of Teacher Background on How Teachers Assess Native-Like and Nonnative-Like Grammar Errors: An Eye-Tracking Study , Wesley Makoto Schramm

Rubric Rating with MFRM vs. Randomly Distributed Comparative Judgment: A Comparison of Two Approaches to Second-Language Writing Assessment , Maureen Estelle Sims

Investigating the Perception of Identity Shift in Trilingual Speakers: A Case Study , Elena Vasilachi

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Preparing Non-Native English Speakers for the Mathematical Vocabulary in the GRE and GMAT , Irina Mikhailovna Baskova

Eye Behavior While Reading Words of Sanskrit and Urdu Origin in Hindi , Tahira Carroll

An Acoustical Analysis of the American English /l, r/ Contrast as Produced by Adult Japanese Learners of English Incorporating Word Position and Task Type , Braden Paul Chase

The Rhetoric Revision Log: A Second Study on a Feedback Tool for ESL Student Writing , Natalie Marie Cole

Quizlet Flashcards for the First 500 Words of the Academic Vocabulary List , Emily R. Crandell

The Impact of Changing TOEFL Cut-Scores on University Admissions , Laura Michelle Decker

A Latent Class Analysis of American English Dialects , Stephanie Nicole Hedges

Comparing the AWL and AVL in Textbooks from an Intensive English Program , Michelle Morgan Hernandez

Faculty and EAL Student Perceptions of Writing Purposes and Challenges in the Business Major , Amy Mae Johnson

Multilingual Trends in Five London Boroughs: A Linguistic Landscape Approach , Shayla Ann Johnson

Nature or Nurture in English Academic Writing: Korean and American Rhetorical Patterns , Sunok Kim

Differences in the Motivations of Chinese Learners of English in Different (Foreign or Second Language) Contexts , Rui Li

Managing Dynamic Written Corrective Feedback: Perceptions of Experienced Teachers , Rachel A. Messenger

Spanish Heritage Bilingual Perception of English-Specific Vowel Contrasts , John B. Nielsen

Taking the "Foreign" Out of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale , Jared Benjamin Sell

Creole Genesis and Universality: Case, Word Order, and Agreement , Gerald Taylor Snow

Idioms or Open Choice? A Corpus Based Analysis , Kaitlyn Alayne VanWagoner

Applying Corpus-Assisted Critical Discourse Analysis to an Unrestricted Corpus: A Case Study in Indonesian and Malay Newspapers , Sara LuAnne White

Investigating the effects of Rater's Second Language Learning Background and Familiarity with Test-Taker's First Language on Speaking Test Scores , Ksenia Zhao

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

The Influence of Online English Language Instruction on ESL Learners' Fluency Development , Rebecca Aaron

The Effect of Prompt Accent on Elicited Imitation Assessments in English as a Second Language , Jacob Garlin Barrows

A Framework for Evaluating Recommender Systems , Michael Gabriel Bean

Program and Classroom Factors Affecting Attendance Patterns For Hispanic Participants In Adult ESL Education , Steven J. Carter

A Longitudinal Analysis of Adult ESL Speakers' Oral Fluency Gains , Kostiantyn Fesenko

Rethinking Vocabulary Size Tests: Frequency Versus Item Difficulty , Brett James Hashimoto

The Onomatopoeic Ideophone-Gesture Relationship in Pastaza Quichua , Sarah Ann Hatton

A Hybrid Approach to Cross-Linguistic Tokenization: Morphology with Statistics , Logan R. Kearsley

Getting All the Ducks in a Row: Towards a Method for the Consolidation of English Idioms , Ethan Michael Lynn

Expecting Excellence: Student and Teacher Attitudes Towards Choosing to Speak English in an IEP , Alhyaba Encinas Moore

Lexical Trends in Young Adult Literature: A Corpus-Based Approach , Kyra McKinzie Nelson

A Corpus-Based Comparison of the Academic Word List and the Academic Vocabulary List , Jacob Andrew Newman

A Self-Regulated Learning Inventory Based on a Six-Dimensional Model of SRL , Christopher Nuttall

The Effectiveness of Using Written Feedback to Improve Adult ESL Learners' Spontaneous Pronunciation of English Suprasegmentals , Chirstin Stephens

Pragmatic Quotation Use in Online Yelp Reviews and its Connection to Author Sentiment , Mary Elisabeth Wright

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Conditional Sentences in Egyptian Colloquial and Modern Standard Arabic: A Corpus Study , Randell S. Bentley

A Corpus-Based Analysis of Russian Word Order Patterns , Stephanie Kay Billings

English to ASL Gloss Machine Translation , Mary Elizabeth Bonham

The Development of an ESP Vocabulary Study Guidefor the Utah State Driver Handbook , Kirsten M. Brown

Advanced Search

• Notify me via email or RSS

ScholarsArchive ISSN: 2572-4479

• Collections
• Disciplines
• Scholarly Communication
• Additional Collections
• Academic Research Blog

Author Corner

Hosted by the.

• Harold B. Lee Library

Home | About | FAQ | My Account | Accessibility Statement

Privacy Copyright

Ohio State nav bar

Ohio state navigation bar.

• BuckeyeLink
• Search Ohio State

Recent Masters Theses

Since 2009, most theses submitted by M.A. and M.S. recipients at the university are published online at the OhioLINK Electronic Theses & Dissertations Center (EDT). This page lists theses submitted by recipients of the M.A. in Linguistics, beginning with the more recent theses which are avalable through EDT. We are currently in the process of extending the list back to the first OSU M.A. in Linguistics (Thomas Scovel's thesis on A distinctive feature analysis of the phonemic segments of Mandarin in 1964), and intend to provide a link to a pdf file or other publication information where available and otherwise a link to the OSU Library Catalog listing.

Riley Wagner

The Perception of Loan Verb Integration Strategies in Romanian Committee:  Brian Joseph (advisor) and Andrea Sims

Giorgio Sbardolini

Conventions and Change in Semantics Committee:  Craige Roberts (advisor)

Race, Gender, and /u/: Social Perceptions of a Non-Stereotype Feature Committee: Kathryn Campbell-Kibler (advisor) and Donald Winford

Ajda Zeynep Gokcen

A Matter of Debate: Using Dialogue Relation Labels to Augment (Dis)agreement Analysis of Debate Data Committee:  Marie-Catherine de Marneffe (advisor) and Brian Joseph

Eric Snyder

Generalizing Individuating/Measure-Ambiguities Committee:  Craige Roberts and Shapiro Stewart (co-advisors)

Jennifer Qian Zhang

Nonsibilant Fricative Acquisition by Bilingual Guoyu-Taiwanese Southern Min Children Committee:  Mary Beckman (advisor) and Micha Elsner

Yourdanis Sedarous

Studies in Nominal Modification in Bohairic Coptic Committee:  Peter Culicover and Brian Joseph (co-advisors)

Lara Downing

Dutchified English in an Ohio Mennonite Community Committee: Brian Joseph and Donald Winford

Gregory Kierstead

Projectivity and the Tagalog Reportative Evidential Committee: Craige Roberts and Judith Tonhauser (co-advisors)

Robert Brice Russ

Examining Regional Variation Through Online Geotagged Corpora Committee: Kathryn Campbell-Kibler and Brian Joseph Since receiving his MA in Linguistics, Brice Russ has worked as a social media / policy consultant, including serving a three-year term as the first Director of Communications for the LSA.

Jeffrey Parker

Palatalization and Utilization of Contrast: An Information-theoretic Investigation of Palatalization in Russian Committee: Brian Joseph and Andrea Sims After receiving his MA in Linguistics, Jeffrey Parker transferred back to the Slavic Linguistics program , where he is currently finishing his dissertation before taking up a faculty position in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Brigham Young University.

"Y'all Done Up and Done It": The Semantics of a Perfect Construction in an Upstate South Carolina Dialect Committee: Donald Winford and Judith Tonhauser After receiving his MA, Eric Ruppe accepted the position of French immersion teacher at Meadow Glen Middle School in Lexington, SC .

Michelle Dionisio

The Syntax and Semantics of the Tagalog Plural Marker Mga Committee: Judith Tonhauser and Craige Roberts

Sara Phillips-Bourass

Implicit Imitation of Regional Dialects in Typically Developing Adults and Adults with High-Functioning Autism Committee: Cynthia Clopper and Shari Speer

Michael Collins

Cognitive Perspectives On English Word Order Committee: William Schuler and Peter Culicover

Hartman Brawley

What Informs Event Descriptions: Language, Salience, and Discourse in English and Japanese Committee: Laura Wagner, Shari Speer, and Kiwako Ito

Lia Mansfield

A CVG Approach to Verp-Particle Constructions in English Committee: Carl Pollard and Robert Levine

Youn Kyung Shin

Variability in the Use of Infinitival to in Present Day American English Committee: Brian Joseph, Robert Levine, and Donald Winford

Oxana Skorniakova

Sensitivity to Sub-Phonemic Variation: Evidence from a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) Goodness-Rating Task Committee: Mary Beckman and Shari Speer

Sarah Bibyk

The Development of Children’s Processing of English Pitch Accents in a Visual Search Task Committee: Shari Speer, Laura Wagner, Cynthia Clopper, and Kiwako Ito After receiving her MA, Sarah Bibyk was accepted into the doctoral program at the University of Rochester .

Parsing with Local Content Committee: Chris Brew, Laura Wagner, and Shari Speer After receiving his MA, John Pate went on to earn a PhD at the University of Edinburgh and was a post-doctoral research fellow in Machine Learning and Computational Linguistics at Macquarie University before taking up his current position on the faculty in Linguistics at the University of Buffalo .

Differential Object Marking in Paraguayan Guaraní Committee: Judith Tonhauser and Peter Culicover After receiving his MA, Cory Shain worked for several years as a linguist at SIL International before returning to Ohio State University and entering the doctoral program in Linguistics.

Rachel Shain

The Preverb Eis - and Koine Greek Aktionsart Committee: Judith Tonhauser, Brian Joseph, and Craige Roberts

Ross Metusalem

Evoking Upcoming Contrast through Accentual Prominence: The Effect of Producing L+H* on Discourse Entities and Discourse Markers Committee: Kiwako Ito and Shari Speer After receiving his MA, Ross Metusalem went on to earn a PhD in Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego , where he is now teaching in the Department of Psychology.

Jon Stevens

The Old English Demonstrative: A Synchronic and Diachronic Investigation Committee: Brian Joseph and Judith Tonhauser After receiving his MA, Jon Stevens went on to earn a PhD at the University of Pennsylvania before taking up his current position on a postdoctoral researcher on the PRAGSales project in computational pragmatics at the Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft (ZAS) in Berlin.

Sharon Ross

Interpretation by Adults and Children of Implicatures Generated through Contrastive Stress: Evidence that Prosodic Contrastive Stress has a Predominantly Presuppositional Character Committee: Peter Culicover and Laura Wagner After receiving her MA, Sharon Ross become a Fulbright Scholar doing research on The Semantics of Focus Marking and Contrastive Stress in Israeli Sign Language at the University of Haifa.

• Search Menu

Sign in through your institution

• Advance articles
• Editor's Choice
• Key Concepts
• The View From Here
• Author Guidelines
• Submission Site
• Open Access
• Why Publish?
• About ELT Journal
• Editorial Board
• Advertising and Corporate Services
• Journals Career Network
• Self-Archiving Policy
• Dispatch Dates
• Terms and Conditions
• Journals on Oxford Academic
• Books on Oxford Academic
• < Previous

A Student's Guide to the MA TESOL Writing an Applied Linguistics Thesis or Dissertation: A Guide to Presenting Empirical Research

• Article contents
• Figures & tables
• Supplementary Data

Marilyn Lewis, A Student's Guide to the MA TESOL Writing an Applied Linguistics Thesis or Dissertation: A Guide to Presenting Empirical Research, ELT Journal , Volume 64, Issue 4, October 2010, Pages 494–495, https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccq052

• Permissions Icon Permissions

Two titles from the same publisher in two successive years on closely related topics seem to provide proof that publications in our field are becoming increasingly specific. Written in different parts of the world (Washington State University for Bell and Auckland University of Technology for Bitchener), both draw on current research and are strengthened by the authors' personal experience. Another common feature is that each could be of interest to a wider readership than the suggested MA TESOL/Applied Linguistics students of the titles, as this review intends to show.

In A Student's Guide , Bell models the academic style students will need to use themselves by including internal referencing to support the theory. Of her six chapters, the first three (with one slight exception) are an introduction to the TESOL discipline, with only the last three addressing the topic of studying for the MA of the book's title. This is not a criticism since students will never reach the point of putting together their dissertation or thesis if they have not first thought more widely about the field.

Personal account

• Sign in with email/username & password
• Get email alerts
• Save searches
• Purchase content
• Activate your purchase/trial code
• Add your ORCID iD

Institutional access

Sign in with a library card.

• Sign in with username/password
• Recommend to your librarian
• Institutional account management
• Get help with access

Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:

IP based access

Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.

Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.

• Click Sign in through your institution.
• Select your institution from the list provided, which will take you to your institution's website to sign in.
• When on the institution site, please use the credentials provided by your institution. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
• Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.

Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.

Society Members

Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:

Sign in through society site

Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:

• Click Sign in through society site.
• When on the society site, please use the credentials provided by that society. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.

If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.

Sign in using a personal account

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.

A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.

Viewing your signed in accounts

Click the account icon in the top right to:

• View your signed in personal account and access account management features.
• View the institutional accounts that are providing access.

Signed in but can't access content

Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.

For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.

Short-term Access

To purchase short-term access, please sign in to your personal account above.

Don't already have a personal account? Register

Email alerts

Citing articles via.

• Recommend to Your Library

Affiliations

• Online ISSN 1477-4526
• Print ISSN 0951-0893
• Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
• About Oxford Academic
• Publish journals with us
• University press partners
• What we publish
• New features  
• Open access
• Rights and permissions
• Accessibility
• Advertising
• Media enquiries
• Oxford University Press
• Oxford Languages
• University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

• Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
• Cookie settings
• Cookie policy
• Privacy policy
• Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Skip to Content

Other ways to search:

• Events Calendar
• MA Thesis Procedures

Remember that you are responsible for scheduling your thesis defense in the semester in which you plan to file. Work with the graduate assistant to find a room once you and your committee have settled on a time. Allow two hours for the defense. 

Writing the MA Thesis in Linguistics

An MA thesis represents an original investigation into a problem or a research project that contributes new knowledge to the field.  A thesis is  not  required in our MA program.  You should undertake an MA thesis if some idea or observation intrigues you so much that you want to pursue it in depth, and you wish to have the experience of organizing and executing your own research project. Beyond this, some students may be motivated to write the MA thesis in order to produce a writing sample for PhD applications or because the MA degree may carry more weight professionally if associated with a thesis. Note that students who elect to write a thesis may count the oral thesis-defense as the concluding exam for the program in place of the written comprehensive exam taken by non-thesis-writers.

• Select a topic, enlisting the help of an advisor or advisors (official or not).   This is very important.  Most students will try to tackle a project that is much too big for the time and resources available. So you will need faculty help in refining your research question(s) and your methodology into something that can be managed for this project. You should do this no later than the middle of your second semester in the program ; the earlier, the better. 
• At the same time, you will select an official advisor. Faculty are not obliged to take on thesis projects, so listen to the feedback you receive from faculty and be prepared to ‘sell’ your idea to your chosen mentor. Eventually you will need to recruit a committee of three faculty members (including your advisor, two of whom must be from the Linguistics department), but many thesis projects get most of their input from a single advisor. Unlike a PhD thesis committee, an MA committee need not contain an external member (a CU faculty member from outside LING) . You are welcome to invite an external member to serve as the third member of your thesis committee, but faculty members from institutions outside CU are not permitted to serve on MA thesis committees. You must have your committee in place by early March (or late October for fall graduation) of your last semester in the program. Notify the Linguistics program assistant of your committee’s composition to be recorded in your file.
• Start early and observe the work schedule religiously.  Scrambling to get everything done in the last two weeks of the semester is neither fun nor good scholarly methodology, and it does not endear you to your faculty committee.

There are strict Graduate School procedures and deadlines governing the preparation and submission of the thesis.    Be sure to follow them . Linguistics Education Program Assistant Ethan McGinnis  is fully informed about the procedures and should be consulted about them. See this link for thesis formatting .Your thesis will be submitted electronically ; the signed title page is also submitted. 

The Schedule

Work backwards. If you plan to graduate with a completed thesis in May of 20xx, you must file your completed thesis by mid-April of 20xx (exact date set by the Graduate School each Academic Year). Before your thesis is filed, it must be researched, written, read by the committee, defended, revised, and re-read by the committee, and the defense and revision always happen at a time of the semester when both you and the faculty are extremely busy.  You must allow enough time between the defense exam and the filing date to make required revisions and allow the faculty readers sufficient time to evaluate the document carefully. Be aware that if you do not allow at least two weeks between your defense date and the thesis filing date, you will probably postpone the awarding of your diploma until the following graduation date (at least).

So for a spring graduation , your backwards schedule might look like this (the dates for a particular year will vary):

• late-April : File the thesis with the Graduate School by the thesis filing deadline, ensuring that you have conformed to the thesis specifications.
• early-April : Submit the final version of your thesis, incorporating revisions required by your thesis committee, to your thesis committee. Make sure to do this well ahead of the thesis filing deadline. While they read it, make sure all Graduate School procedures are understood and being followed.
• mid- to late-March (ideally before spring break) : Take the thesis defense exam. You must work with your committee and the program assistant in Linguistics to fix the time and room for your thesis defense. Allow two hours for the defense . Be sure to check with your thesis advisor about the appropriate format for the defense (e.g., how long your presentation should be, how many minutes to set aside for questions). 
• early March, depending on defense arrangements : Submit the completed thesis to your committee (at least two weeks before the defense date). Make certain that the exam report form, containing the names of your thesis committee members (and which your committee will sign once you have taken the exam), has been sent to the Graduate School at least two weeks in advance of the defense date.
• March 1 or earlier : Submit the final draft of your thesis to your advisor. The advisor needs time to read this draft before giving you clearance to circulate it to the rest of the committee. Expect to do some revising between now and the date when you will give the document to the whole committee.
• February or earlier : Make certain that all three of your desired committee members are willing to serve.  Ensure that you have notified the Linguistics program assistant of your committee’s composition.
• February 1, graduation year : File the Application for Candidacy form with the Graduate School (see below).
• April 1, first year (second semester in program) : Submit a thesis proposal (2 pages) that outlines your topic and methods to your advisor and one additional committee member.  Notify the Linguistics program assistant of your advisor to be recorded in your digital file. To be safe, double-check during advising to make sure that this information is in your official Record of Progress. You now have nearly a year in which to do the project and write the thesis.
• December, first year (end of first semester in program) :  Express "soft intent" to do a thesis. This means that you have discussed the thesis possibility with at least one interested faculty member and the Grad Advisor. At this point, you are not yet obligated to write a thesis; however, you are encouraged to take the Research in Linguistics course in Spring to further explore your interests.

Additional Regulations

• Credit hours : You must take (i.e., pay for) at least four, and may take up to six, credits of the course listed as MA Thesis in order to graduate under the thesis plan. You can register for those hours at any time that is convenient (financially most advantageous) for you and your advisor; the timing of the credits does not have to be the same as the timing of your work on the thesis.  You may take all the credits in one semester if you wish.  Those 4-6 credit hours substitute for course credits and contribute to the 30 total hours you need to graduate.

Master's Thesis Plan Form : Students completing a written thesis must now submit a Master’s Thesis Plan Form contained in this link:  https://www.colorado.edu/graduateschool/content/masters-thesis-plan-form This form should be submitted as early as possible in the graduate career and at the latest it should be submitted by the deadline to graduate posted for the semester in which the student plans to graduate.

Candidacy application : The Candidacy Application is a form required by the Graduate School before you can take your final exam (which, for thesis writers, is the thesis defense).  It is due very near the beginning of the semester in which you expect to take the exam. The candidacy form must be completed before the thesis defense and approved by the Graduate School at that time. 

• Comprehensive exam :  Starting July 2024,  students will have the option to either write an MA thesis or take the comprehensive exam in order to complete the MA degree requirements.  Students who pass the thesis defense are not required to take the written comprehensive exam.
• Completing Your Degree
• Comprehensive Exam
• Computational Linguistics (CLASIC) Master's Degree
• PhD in Linguistics
• Independent Study
• Certificate Programs
• Graduate Teaching
• Graduate Linguistics Association
• Academic Integrity
• Research Resources
• International Graduate Students
• The Graduate Mentorship Program

• BA Linguistics
• BA Speech Sciences
• Diploma in Linguistics
• Opportunities
• Beyond the BA
• Masters’ Programs
• PhD Program
• Theses & Dissertations
• Continuing Education
• Graduate Students
• In Memoriam
• Labs & Groups
• First Nations Languages
• Research Interest Registration
• Field Methods Class
• Publications
• Recurring Events
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
• Job Opportunities

MA Linguistics

The MA in Linguistics program is interdisciplinary, combining research methods from the humanities and the social, natural, and mathematical sciences.

Program Overview

Our department covers a broad range of research topics, with substantial coverage of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. We approach these topics from several different research traditions and backgrounds, with particular strengths in formal-theoretical linguistics, experimental and field linguistics, acquisition, and computational approaches to the study of communicative behaviour.

The Department is strongly committed to the study of Languages of the Americas, with particular focus on First Nations Languages of Canada, in the areas of documentation and theoretical research. Additionally, we have a long history of work on African languages as well as ongoing research on languages within the Indo-European, Japonic, Sino-Tibetan, Korean, and Uralic families.

Program Requirements

The MA in Linguistics can be earned in two ways: a thesis option and a non-thesis option. Each path has a specific set of course requirements that need to be fulfilled in order to complete the program. If you are unsure about which option is right for you, you will have until April 30 before making a final decision. If you wish to select the non-thesis option, you must send a written request to the Graduate Advisor.

Thesis Option Requirements

Students interested in linguistic research are strongly encouraged to enroll in the program for an MA with thesis. You must complete coursework under the following requirements:

• Breadth requirement (9 credits): A minimum of nine credits from the following courses or equivalents:
• LING 508: Phonetic Theory and Analysis (3 credits)
• LING 510: Phonological Theory and Analysis (3 credits)
• LING 520: Syntactic Theory and Analysis (3 credits)
• LING 525: Semantic Theory and Analysis (3 credits)
• Methods requirement (6 credits): A minimum of six credits from the following courses: 
• LING 531: Field Methods in LInguistics I (3 credits)
• Either LING 532, LING 518, or an appropriate methods-related course within in Linguistics or in a different department
• Thesis Requirement  (6 credits) : LING 549C: Master’s Thesis
• Remaining 9 credits: The remaining nine credits must be chosen with approval from the supervisory committee; courses may be from Linguistics or another appropriate department.

First-year graduate students who do not have sufficient background for the first-year graduate courses are expected to take the appropriate undergraduate courses prior to registration in the graduate course.

Until their MA thesis prospectus has been approved, all MA students are expected to maintain a regular, active, physical presence in the Department. This can include participation in lab/project/reading groups, attending colloquia, research seminars or other ad hoc departmental events, meetings with their supervisor, committee members or other researchers in relevant areas. Certain circumstances may necessitate a student’s absence during some of this period (e.g. for field work); such absences should be discussed with the supervisory committee. At all stages of the program, a student and their supervisor should be in regular contact and communication. At the thesis/dissertation stage, such contact should happen at least once a month (again, barring extenuating circumstances), either through in-person meetings, videoconferencing, or communication/reporting over email.

In order to graduate, students must have a sound knowledge of one language other than English. They must fulfill this language requirement by the time of their thesis prospectus submission.

The language to fulfill this requirement is expected to be chosen on the basis of its relevance for the student’s research program, in consultation and by approval of the student’s supervisory committee. Relevance can be determined by a variety of factors such as the following:

• The language is the object of the student’s research, or is closely related to the language of research; for example, where a student’s research focuses on Yoruba, knowledge of Yoruba could fulfill the requirement, or where the student’s research is on one Salish language, knowledge of another could fulfill the requirement.
• There is a significant and relevant linguistic literature in the language; for example, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Russian could fulfill the requirement.
• The language serves as a medium for conducting linguistic research relevant to the student’s program of research; for example, Hausa could fulfill the language requirement for a student conducting research on a language of northern Nigeria.

Students may fulfill the language requirements in various ways:

• Certain departments at UBC periodically schedule reading knowledge examinations. This exam evaluates a student’s language competence based on the translation of a text (approximately 1000 words) relating to the student’s field of study. A minimum second class standing (B- or better) must be obtained on this exam in order to satisfy the Foreign Language Requirement. For further information on such examinations, contact the appropriate departments.
• If you speak a language natively, your native proficiency can be accepted by the supervisory committee.
• If you have completed a program of post-secondary language study (a minimum of 12 credits or equivalent). A minimum second class standing (B- or better) must be obtained for these credits in order to satisfy the Foreign Language Requirement.
• For other languages, it may be necessary to establish an ad hoc mechanism for conducting an evaluation of the student’s knowledge. In such cases, the student should make a written request to their supervisory committee, including a proposal for how such an examination can take place, and including a proposal for a qualified examiner. Students considering this option should be aware that the requirements (including the required level of competence in the language and how to demonstrate it) may vary extensively from case to case, depending on the norms of the language community involved.

A Research Supervisor is appointed for a student before the beginning of their first year in the program. The Graduate Advisor and the Research Supervisor, in consultation with the incoming student, will establish a three-member Temporary Supervisory Committee no later than the end of the first week of the first term. Prior to registration for the second year, the Temporary Supervisory Committee shall be dissolved and a new Supervisory Committee shall be established. A MA Supervisory Committee consists minimally of the Research Supervisor and two additional members. Normally the members of the supervisory committee are from the Department of Linguistics; if the students committee includes members from outside the Department of Linguistics, a majority must be departmental members.

Establishing a Research Supervisor is the joint responsibility of the student and the Graduate Advisor. Both new and continuing MA students will have a meeting with their Supervisory Committee during the last week of August or in early September. At this meeting students can discuss their course work and other aspects of their program. Incoming students are requested to bring with them copies of the calendars of course offerings from the institutions they previously attended (other than UBC). At the end of April or the beginning of May, all students will meet with their Supervisory Committee to discuss the year’s progress and to plan further work. Any changes in a graduate student’s program must be approved by the Supervisory Committee. The Graduate Advisor, in advising students, makes every effort to ensure that they have satisfied all the requirements for the degree — language requirements, course work, etc. However, it is ultimately every student’s responsibility to ensure that at the time he/she applies for the degree he/she has met all the requirements. Separate records of a student’s program and progress are kept by the Faculty of Graduate Studies; these records are obtained from information provided by the Graduate Advisor and are used to determine a student’s ultimate eligibility for graduation.

• Summary page (Max: ½ page)
• Detailed description (Max: 3 pages)
• Bibliography
• Budget (if there will be costs associated with completing the thesis research
• Budget justification

The prospectus is approved by the supervisory committee. Once approved, the prospectus is filed in the Department Reading Room and circulated electronically to the Department. The completed thesis must be read and approved by the supervisory committee, which will conduct an oral examination on the completed thesis. Students will be encouraged to present a version of their paper at a departmental colloquium or at a regional, national, or international meeting.

• Supervision: As soon as the student’s supervisory committee is formed, the student and his/her committee will meet to arrange procedures for organizing the thesis and to establish procedures the committee will follow in reading and approving the thesis. Preliminary drafts, either of individual chapters or of the whole thesis, should be submitted as the student proceeds. The thesis committee should assess the thesis at two stages — when the topic is proposed, and before the thesis reaches final typing. With respect to criticism and subsequent revisions, it is up to the student and the supervisor to check the procedures and deadlines of both the department and the university.
• Thesis preparation : Theses should be prepared in accordance with the thesis formatting regulations available on the Faculty of Graduate Studies website. Typescripts which do not meet the standards specified may be rejected. Documentation should follow the style guide of The Canadian Journal of Linguistics, Language or the American Psychological Association.
• Number of copies: The candidate should prepare a minimum of five copies of the thesis: one for himself/herself, one for the supervisor, one for delivery to the Faculty of Graduate Studies, and two to be retained by the Linguistics Department (one for filing and one for the Reading Room). Normally a student will also provide a copy to each member of his/her supervisory committee.
• Oral examination: A final oral on the thesis may be held at any time of the year, provided the supervisory committee can be assembled. The final oral examination will not be held until the student has fulfilled all the other requirements for the degree.
• Distance exemption: A student residing more than 500 miles from the university when he/she submits his/her thesis may request exemption from the oral. Where substantial revisions to the thesis are not required, such a request may be granted at the discretion of both the examining committee and the Graduate Advisor.

Non-Thesis Option Requirements

Students interested in linguistic research are strongly encouraged to enroll in the program for an MA with thesis. You must complete a minimum of 30 credits of coursework under the following requirements:

• 24 credits must be at the 500 level or above.
• The other 6 credits must be at the 300 level or above.
• Complete a graduating essay.

For specific course requirements, please contact the Graduate Advisor.

A Graduating Essay differs from a thesis both in the scope and in the degree of originality expected. A typical Graduating Essay is a minimum of 15 pages in length. The Essay should go beyond the formal course work of the program but, where appropriate, may originate in formal courses. The Essay is not required to contain original results, but should be a finished product demonstrating reasonable mastery and sophistication in its area.

The completed and approved Essay should be deposited in the Departmental office, and the Faculty of Graduate Studies will be so advised.

Quick Links

Navigation auf uzh.ch

Master Program Linguistics

Quicklinks und sprachwechsel, main navigation, master thesis, table of contents, the master thesis, preparation, formal requirements, booking and deadlines, recommended reading.

Semester Awards

Archive of previous MA theses

The Master Thesis is a written piece of work written independently by the student and is supervised by a Professor or another member of staff holding at least a PhD degree. As a rule, the Master's thesis comprises 50 - 90 pages (approx. 29,000 - 52,000 words) and is graded.

The Master Thesis is usually supervised by a professor. Members of staff holding a doctoral degree are also allowed to supervise MA theses. Note, however, that they are not obliged to do so. 

Make sure to contact a potential supervisor prior to booking the MA thesis module online – ideally at the end of the preceding semester, but no later than: 

             August 5 for the fall semester      

             January 5 for the spring semester

Students are to agree on their topic with their supervisor in a timely manner. Further details pertaining to requirements specific to the respective field in which the student has chosen to write the thesis should be discussed with them. 

We strongly recommend that you write your MA thesis in the last semester and that you have successfully completed at least one seminar paper before starting your MA thesis.

The topic of the MA thesis can either be chosen freely or come from topics suggested by lecturers. The language in which the thesis is written is determined according to the agreement with the supervisor. It should be noted, however, that if a teaching diploma is being pursued, it is advisable to choose the topic for the MA thesis in a way that it will also be recognized for the teaching diploma (for details, see section Lehrdiplom für Maturitätsschulen ). 

The topic of the MA thesis can either be chosen freely or come from topics suggested by lecturers. The language in which the thesis is written is determined according to the agreement with the supervisor. It should be noted, however, that if a teaching diploma is being pursued, it is advisable to choose the topic for the MA thesis in a way that it will also be recognized for the teaching diploma (for details, see section Lehrdiplom an Maturitätsschulen . 

The recommendation for the formatting of your MA thesis is as follows:

• Font: Times New Roman
• Font size: 12pt
• Line spacing: 1.5
• Margin: left/right 2.5cm, top/bottom 2cm
• Justification: justified with automatic hyphenation

Please discuss specifics with your supervisor.

Visit the download area for template covers and the Selbständigkeitserklärung  under General Guidelines and Templates .

The MA thesis must be booked online during the  module booking period . Click on “Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences” to see the current deadlines as well as the cancellation deadlines. 

The  latest possible submission dates  for the MA thesis are:

           December 1 for the fall semester

          June 1 for the spring semester

General information from the Faculty of Arts can be found here . 

We strongly recommend that you write your MA thesis in the last semesters and that you have successfully completed at least one seminar paper before starting your MA thesis.

Supervision Agreement

Once you have booked the MA thesis module, please download this Supervision Agreement (PDF, 78 KB) and have it signed by your supervisor and you. Send it back to [email protected]

Alison Wray, &  Aileen Bloomer. 2012. Projects in Linguistics and Language Studies: A Practical Guide to Researching Language. New York/London: Routledge.

Sunderland, Jane. 2010. Research questions in linguistics. In Lisa Litosseliti, ed. Research Methods in Linguistics. London: Continuum.

The semester awards, with a value of CHF 600.–, are granted by the faculties for outstanding scholarly work. A total of 30 awards are distributed according to the size of the student body at the individual faculties. The awards are presented by the President of UZH.

Two of our students have won a semester award, congratulations! 

• "Shifting Pronouns and Disruptive Technology: Studying Singular ‚They‘ with GPT- 3" by Carlos Hartmann in HS22 (Digital Linguistics)
• "Mouse Tracking for Reading (MoTR): A New Incremental Processing Paradigm" by Cui Ding in HS23 (Digital Linguistics)

You will fine a list of MA thesis titles written by our students. This is not an exhaustive list; we only publish with permission of the author. This list is meant to give you an idea of what other students have written their MA thesis on. Some of the theses are published on ZORA.

If you wish to make your own MA thesis available on ZORA please contact our study advisor .

Weiterführende Informationen

«my thesis in 5 minutes».

«My Thesis in 5 Minutes» is an informal  event where we talk and answer your questions about writing a Master's Thesis in the Linguistics program. Some students will briefly talk about their MA thesis writing process.

Who : Students from the Linguistics program who either like to share where they are in their thesis writing process or those that are seeking more information.  When : Friday, 19th of April, 2024 from 10:30-12:00 Where : Cafeteria, Room AND 2.51 in Oerlikon. Andreasstrasse 15, 8050 Oerlikon

For registration or if you have questions, please contact Lorena Schneider,  [email protected]

Bereichs-Navigation

Unterseiten von master thesis.

•   DigitalGeorgetown Home
• Georgetown University Institutional Repository
• Georgetown College
• Department of Linguistics

Graduate Theses and Dissertations - Linguistics

Creators Titles By Creation Date

Search within this collection:

Browse All Items

Most Recent Submissions

Independent Reading in the Exploratory Spanish Classroom: Who Is missing from the Picture of “Typical” Second Language Reading Development? 

Ideological Contradiction in Far-Right Food Discourse: Elitism and Environmental Unsustainability 

Singular ‘Some’ as an Intersubjective Resource: Procedural Meaning, Pragmatic Effects, and Interactional Practices 

Language Ideological Debates 2.0: Granular Features and the Trouble with ‘Qatar’ and ‘Latinx’ 

Advancing Generalization in Coreference Resolution 

UCL Psychology and Language Sciences

MA Linguistics

The Linguistics MA aims to give students a thorough grounding in modern theoretical linguistics. Students gain a basic understanding of the three core areas of linguistics: phonetics and phonology; syntax; and semantics and pragmatics, and are then able to tailor the programme to meet their personal linguistic interests.

Key Information

Programme starts, modes and duration.

Fees and application deadlines:  Details available in the UCL Prospectus

Entry requirements

Normally a minimum of an upper second-class Bachelor's degree from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard is required.

English Language Requirements

If your education has not been conducted in the English language, you will be expected to demonstrate evidence of an adequate level of English proficiency.

The English language level for this programme is: Good

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

International students

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website .

Applicants with a significant academic background in theoretical linguistics, e.g. with an undergraduate degree in linguistics, may also be interested in the specialised MA Linguistics programmes in phonology , pragmatics , semantics and syntax .

See below for short videos on studying Linguistics and Language Sciences at UCL and a guided tour of Chandler House, home of UCL Linguistics:

Widget Placeholder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHjyYo5Jnzc

Widget Placeholder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p8RijV7y60

UCL Language Sciences – Chandler House Tour

Further information on the MA Linguistics degree programme can be found here:

Why study this degree at UCL?

The UCL Division of Psychology & Language Sciences undertakes world-leading research and teaching in linguistics, language, mind, and behaviour. More specifically, UCL Linguistics is one of the leading departments for research in theoretical linguistics in the UK and its staff includes world leaders in theoretical syntax, semantics, pragmatics, phonology, and experimental linguistics.

Our work attracts staff and students from around the world. Together they create an outstanding and vibrant environment, taking advantage of cutting-edge resources such as a behavioural neuroscience laboratory, a centre for brain imaging, and extensive laboratories for research in speech and language, perception, and cognition.

Our world-class research is characterised by a tight integration of theoretical and experimental work spanning the full range of the linguistic enterprise and forms the bedrock of the department’s eminent reputation, which is also reflected in other markers of excellence, such as its editorial involvement with top journals in the field.

Department: Division of Psychology & Language Sciences

Student / staff ratios › 181 staff including 173 postdocs › 780 taught students › 440 research students

Research Excellence Framework (REF)

The Research Excellence Framework , or REF, is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions.

In the UK’s 2021 Research Excellence Framework, as part of the Faculty Unit of Assessment, UCL Psychology and Language Science’s Research Environment ranked equal First in the UK. Additionally, 92% of our research was graded 4* (‘world-leading’) or 3* (‘internationally excellent’).

Learn more about the scope of UCL's research, and browse case studies, on our Research Impact website .

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. The programme consists of four compulsory taught modules (total of 60 credits), two modules selected from a group of three choices (total of 30 credits), two optional modules (total of 30 credits) and a research dissertation (60 credits). All modules have the value of 15 credits (apart from the dissertation).

Detailed module descriptions are available at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/linguistics-plin-modules

Students must take the compulsory modules below:

Students must select TWO out of the three modules below:

In addition, students choose TWO 15-credit option modules in consultation with the programme director. You can find further information at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/linguistics-plin-modules.

Students will be able to tailor the programme to meet their personal linguistic interests either by focusing on one particular area, or by diversifying into other branches. For example, a student could choose to study an option (such as language acquisition or language evolution) only indirectly related to the core areas, and to write his or her dissertation on yet another area (for instance, sociolinguistics). Alternatively, a student could choose to study an option taken from one of the core areas (such as advanced syntactic theory or issues in pragmatics), and to write his or her dissertation in a related area. As a consequence, students may spend as much as three fifths or as little as one fifth of their time working in one particular part of the discipline.

Time table You can view the timetable for the current academic year at www.ucl.ac.uk/timetable . Click on "degree programme", enter "Linguistics", choose MA Linguistics, Year 1, and click on "Show Timetable". You will now see all classes for all compulsory modules for the whole year. You can click on "Change Display" at the top left to see classes for Term 1 and Term 2 separately. You need to attend all lectures and for most modules, you will attend one additional tutorial.

Programme Director: Dr Jamie White

Teaching staff (NB: staff may occasionally be absent for a term or more on research or other leave)

• Prof Klaus Abels
• Prof Richard Breheny
• Prof Robyn Carston
• Dr Wing Yee Chow
• Dr Kearsy Cormier
• Dr Bronwen Evans
• Dr Nathan Klinedinst
• Dr Andrew Lamont
• Prof Ad Neeleman
• Prof Andrew Nevins
• Dr Nausicaa Pouscoulous
• Dr Tim Pritchard
• Dr Andrea Santi
• Dr Yasutada Sudo
• Dr Elena Titov
• Dr Hans van de Koot

In addition, we can call on the support of Postgraduate Teaching Assistants.

Click below to listen to Prof Andrew Nevins talk about "slips of the ear":

Widget Placeholder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnhkwRmYuQ

Start of programme

• September intake only

Application and next steps

Applications.

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

Who can apply?

The programme is particularly suitable for students whose undergraduate degree included a minority of linguistic course-units, or who have studied linguistics of a more traditional type elsewhere. It is also suitable for good graduates who have encountered linguistics only indirectly, for instance through psychology, philosophy, or foreign language teaching.

For more information see our Applications page.

What are we looking for?

When we assess your application we would like to learn:

• why you want to study Linguistics at graduate level
• why you want to study Linguistics at UCL
• what particularly attracts you to the chosen programme
• how your academic and professional background meets the demands of this rigorous programme

Together with essential academic requirements, the personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying to this programme match what the programme will deliver.

Further information is available in the UCL prospectus: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate/taught-degrees/linguistics-ma#fees-funding . UK/EU national may be eligible to apply for a postgraduate loan of up to £10,000 to help with fees and living costs. Learn more about postgraduate loans.

UCL Scholarships

For information on general scholarship opportunities, please select the link below: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/scholarships/funding-students-postgraduate-taught-courses

Other funding

The European Funding Guide includes details of further funding opportunities.

Many linguistics graduates from UCL carry on studying linguistics at MPhil/PhD level with a view to pursuing an academic career. Others go on to teach languages, especially English (as a first or foreign language) or embark on a range of other careers, from law, media, computing and speech and language therapy to all aspects of commerce and industry.  

Recent career destinations for this degree

• Lecturer, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia
• Investigations Specialist, Amazon
• Translator, Hunan University
• English as a Foreign Language Teacher, Wall Street Institute
• PhD in Translation Studies, Imperial College London

Employability

Linguistics MA students acquire a wide range of transferable skills, which opens up opportunities in many different sectors include language teaching, translating and interpreting, marketing, communication, journalism, management, and law. Graduates who achieve good results are well placed to go on to a research degree in linguistics at top universities, often with a view to pursuing an academic career.

Careers data is taken from the ‘Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education’ survey undertaken by HESA looking at the destinations of UK and EU students in the 2013–2015 graduating cohorts six months after graduation.

Read general information on careers open to Linguistics graduates and information on the career paths taken by some of our alumni .

We have a number of virtual open days. Please get in touch with [email protected] for further details.

Contact Information

• [email protected]
• Division of Psychology & Language Sciences

We have collated frequently asked questions and answers at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/sites/pals/files/ma_ling_offerholder_2024_faq.pdf. Please get in touch if you have a question that is not covered!

• Utility Menu

Department of Linguistics

• Recent Dissertation Titles

Alternatives and Exhaustification: Non-Interrogative Uses of Chinese wh - words

Any Questions? Polarity as a Window into the Structure of Questions

The Caland System in the North: Archaism and Innovation in Property-Concept/State Morphology in Balto-Slavic

Diachronic Poetics and Language History: Studies in Archaic Greek Poetry

Feature Mismatch: Deponency in Indo-European Languages

The Hidden Structure of Thai Noun Phrases

Interpreting Questions with Non-Exhaustive Answers

Local Instability the Syntax of ‘Spilt Topics’

A Modular Theory of Radical 'Pro' Drop

Nominal Arguments and Language Variation

The Origin of Variation in Norwegian Retroflexion

Phasing in Full Interpretation

Prosodic Noun Incorporation and Verb-Initial Syntax

The Role of Alternatives and Strength in Grammar

The Semantics of Measurement

The Sense of Self: Topics in the Semantics of ‘De Se’ Expressions

Soft but Strong. Neg-Raising, Soft Triggers, and Exhaustification

Split Intransitivity in Ranmo

Studies in Tocharian Adjective Formation

The Syntax-Phonology Interface in Native and Near-Native Korean

Topics at the PF Interface of Turkish

Toward a Theory of Mandarin Quantification

• Courses 2024-25
• Undergraduate
• Ph.D. Program
• Secondary Fields
• Financial Aid

Course Descriptions

Full course descriptions, fall 2024 courses are subject to change, fall 2024 courses, fall 2024 course schedule, fall 2024 asl course schedule, american sign language (asl) at harvard.

Suggestions or feedback?

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Machine learning
• Sustainability
• Black holes
• Classes and programs

Departments

• Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Brain and Cognitive Sciences
• Architecture
• Political Science
• Mechanical Engineering

Centers, Labs, & Programs

• Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
• Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
• Lincoln Laboratory
• School of Architecture + Planning
• School of Engineering
• School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
• Sloan School of Management
• School of Science
• MIT Schwarzman College of Computing

“The dance between autonomy and affinity creates morality”

Press contact :.

Previous image Next image

MIT philosophy doctoral student Abe Mathew believes individual rights play an important role in protecting the autonomy we value. But he also thinks we risk serious dysfunction if we ignore the importance of supporting and helping others.

“We should also acknowledge another feature of our moral lives,” he says, “namely, our need for affinity or closeness with other human beings, and our continued reliance on them to live flourishing lives in the world.”

Philosophy can be an important tool in understanding how humans interact with one another, he says. “I study moral obligation and rights, how the two relate, and the role they have to play in how we relate to one another,” Mathew adds.

Mathew asks that we think of autonomy and affinity as opposing forces — an idea he attributes to MIT philosopher, professor, and mentor  Kieran Setiya . Autonomy pushes people farther from us, and affinity pulls people closer, Mathew says.

“The dance between autonomy and affinity creates morality,” Mathew adds.

Mathew is investigating one of moral philosophy’s foundational ideas — that every obligation we owe to another person correlates to a right that they have against us. The “Correlativity Thesis” is widely taken for granted, he says.

“A common example that's used to motivate the Correlativity Thesis is a case of a promise,” Mathew explains. “If I promise to meet you for coffee at 11, then I have a moral obligation to meet you for coffee at 11, and you have a right to meet me at 11.” While Mathew believes this is how promising works, he doesn’t think the Correlativity Thesis is true across the board.

“There isn’t necessarily a one-to-one relationship between rights and obligations,” he said. “A pregnant person on the bus may not have a right to your seat, but you do have an obligation to give it up for them.”

“We need folks’ help to do things”

Before coming to MIT, Mathew majored in philosophy and minored in ethics, law, and society as an undergraduate at the University of Toronto. Upon graduating in 2020, he was awarded the prestigious John Black Aird Scholarship, given each year to the university’s top undergraduate.

Now at MIT, Mathew says his research is based on the value of shared responsibility.

“We need folks’ help to do things,” he says.  

When we lose sight of moral values, our societal connections can fall away, he argues.

“Mutual cooperation makes our lives possible,” Mathew says.

His research suggests alternatives to the idea that rights demand obligations.

“Morality puts a certain kind of pressure on us to ‘pay it forward’ — it requires us to do for others what was once done for us,” Mathew says. “If we don’t, we’re making an exception of ourselves; in essence, we're saying, ‘I was worthy of that help from others, but no one else is worthy of being helped by me.’”

Mathew also values the notion of paying it forward because he’s seen its value in his life. “I’ve encountered so many people who’ve gone above and beyond that I owe them,” he says. 

A valuable social compact

Mathew has been extensively involved in “public philosophy.” For example, he’s organized public events at MIT, like the successful “Ask a Philosopher Anything” panel in the Stata Center lobby.

Mathew’s work leading the local chapter of  Corrupt the Youth , a philosophy outreach program focused on bringing philosophy to high schools students from historically marginalized groups, is an extension of his belief in our shared responsibility for one another — of “paying it forward.”

“The reason I discovered philosophy was because of my instructors in college who not only introduced me to the subject, but also cultivated my enthusiasm for it and mentored me,” he says. “Our moral theorizing should take into account the kinds of creatures we are: vulnerable human beings who are constantly in need of each other to get by in the world,” Mathew says. One aspect of our vulnerability is our tendency to make mistakes, and as a result, damage our relationships with one another. Morality, Mathew says, gives us a tool — the social practice of forgiving — through which we can coexist, repair relationships we damage, and lead our lives together.

Mathew wants moral philosophers to consider their ideas’ practical, real-world applications. His experiences derive, in part, from notions of moral responsibility. Those who’ve been given a lot, he believes, have a greater responsibility for others. These kinds of social systems can consistently be improved by paying good deeds forward, he says.

“Moral philosophy should help build a world that allows for our mutual benefit,” Mathew says.

Share this news article on:

Related links.

• Kieran Setiya
• Department of Linguistics and Philosophy

Related Topics

• Graduate, postdoctoral
• School of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences

Related Articles

Exploring morality at MIT

Facing reality, however painful it may be

How philosophy can solve your midlife crisis

Previous item Next item

More MIT News

MIT spinout Arnasi begins applying LiquiGlide no-stick technology to help patients

Read full story →

Groundbreaking poverty alleviation project expands with new Arnold Ventures, J-PAL North America collaboration

Study tracks exposure to air pollution through the day

Edgerton Center hosts workshop for deaf high school students in STEM

MIT Global SCALE Network expands by adding center at Loughborough University

New transistor’s superlative properties could have broad electronics applications

• More news on MIT News homepage →

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, USA

• Map (opens in new window)
• Events (opens in new window)
• People (opens in new window)
• Careers (opens in new window)
• Accessibility
• Social Media Hub
• MIT on Facebook
• MIT on YouTube
• MIT on Instagram