The M.A. in Linguistics provides for the scientific study of human language. An important focus of linguistics is identifying properties common to languages through the study of linguistic structure (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics), and on understanding how languages change, how they are used by communities, and how they are acquired. As such, linguistics provides insight into both the structural and communicative properties of human language. In analyzing linguistic structure and identifying patterns of language use, students apply this knowledge in an effort to better understand language use and language learning. Throughout the M.A. program, you are exposed to linguistic structure and language use patterns of languages from around the world.
There are many opportunities to work with faculty with a wide range of linguistic specializations and on numerous languages. We encourage you to present at local and national conferences, apply for research grants and publish research in academic venues. Scholarships, grants and assistantships support many of our graduate students as they pursue their program.
Some research topics of the Linguistics faculty and students include pragmatics, discourse analysis, psycholinguistics, second language reading and vocabulary acquisition, TESOL pedagogy, syntax, lexical semantics, sociolinguistics, language documentation and description, typology, and historical linguistics. Faculty and student research has included work on the indigenous languages of the Americas, Hmong, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Arabic, Polish and Romance languages.