M.A. Specialization in Germanic Linguistics (30 credit hours)

1 Course Requirements

(Entering students with little or no background in linguistics may also be required to take Phonology I (LIN532).)
•    Core courses:

  • History of the German Language (GER515) or History of the English Language (GER558)
  • Structure of Modern German (GER608) or one 3-credit independent study on a Germanic topic
  • Phonetics (LIN531)
  • Syntax I (LIN515)
  • Semantics I (LIN538)
  • Historical Linguistics (LIN539)

Electives: 4 courses from among the following:

  • Discourse Pragmatics (LIN504)
  • Morphology (LIN510)
  • Typology and Universals (LIN525)
  • Phonology II (LIN533)
  • Role and Reference Grammar
  • Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar Semantics II (LIN543)
  • Psycholinguistics (LIN517)
  • Sociolinguistics (LIN595)
  • One 3-credit independent study on a Germanic topic.

2 MA Exam

Students who enter the Linguistics program as a Master’s student additionally take the M.A. Exam (or, exceptionally, the faculty may ask a student to write an M.A. project). The exam will be given once each semester; the exact date will be fixed each year, but students can expect to take the exam during the last few weeks of the semester (November in the Fall, and April in the Spring).

The exam consists of questions in the areas of linguistics represented by our basic 500-level courses: Syntax, Semantics, Phonetics, Phonology, Historical Linguistics, Linguistic Anthropology, Morphology, Psycholinguistics, Typology, Discourse-Pragmatics, and Sociolinguistics. (If a student wishes to answer a question in Neurolinguistics, or in Language Acquisition, or in some other area, s/he should see the Director of Graduate Studies to see if it is possible to arrange for such a question.) Students must answer three questions. The exam takes 3-hours.

The questions will be drawn from material covered in the corresponding 500-level course for example, the Morphology question will be based on topics covered Lin 510). The faculty who teach these courses will make up the question, and the faculty who has made up the question will also grade it.
The student must receive a passing grade on two of the three questions. If a student receives a "pass" on only one of the three question, s/he will be given the opportunity to choose a fourth area and answer the question in that area.