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DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS
Graduate application.
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Graduate Handbook
Students apply to graduate programs in Linguistics at Northwestern through The Graduate School (TGS). Please familiarize yourself with its admission process . The departmental application deadline is November 30th for admission the following Fall Quarter: All applications materials must be received by this date.
All applicants must apply online via TGS’s Admissions and Recruitment system (CollegeNET) , submitting the following materials:
- Academic Statement
- Personal Statement
- Writing Sample
- Transcripts (from all universities attended)
- TOEFL or IELTS Scores (for international students only)
- Letters of Recommendation
- Curriculum Vita/Resume
For additional details about the application process, read the Application Procedure .
For further questions, see our Frequently Asked Questions .
Academic Catalog
2024-2025 Edition
Linguistics PhD
Degree requirements.
The following requirements are in addition to, or further elaborate upon, those requirements outlined in The Graduate School Policy Guide .
Total Units Required: 10
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| Fundamental Properties of Language (4 quarters) | |
| Sociolinguistic Theory and Analysis | |
| Laboratory Phonology I | |
| Syntactic Analysis I | |
| Semantic Analysis I | |
| Advanced Competency (4 quarters) | |
| Computational Analysis (1 quarter) | |
| Text Processing for Linguists | |
| Introduction to Computational Linguistics | |
| Statistics (1 quarter) | |
| Applied Statistics for Research 1 | |
| Seminar in Linguistics (Advanced Statistics for Language Science) | |
Additional Degree Requirements
- Research/Projects: successful completion of one research paper, by the end of eighth quarter, for admission to candidacy; acceptable master's thesis in the department may be offered to satisfy the requirement
- PhD Dissertation: in addition to PhD degree requirements outlined in the Graduate Study at Northwestern University section of this Web site, completion of a prospectus by the end of the twelfth quarter, for admission to candidacy
- Final Evaluations: none specified beyond the PhD degree requirements outlined in the Graduate Study at Northwestern University section of this Web site
- Other : demonstration of advanced competence in a second natural language. (For non-native English speakers, advanced competence in English satisfies this requirement.)
Total Units Required: 9
The Qualifying Paper and course work can be used by PhD students to satisfy requirements for MA degree.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| Fundamental Properties of Language (4 quarters) | |
| Sociolinguistic Theory and Analysis | |
| Laboratory Phonology I | |
| Syntactic Analysis I | |
| Semantic Analysis I | |
| Computational Analysis (1 quarter) | |
| Text Processing for Linguists | |
| Introduction to Computational Linguistics | |
| Statistics (1 quarter) | |
| Applied Statistics for Research 1 | |
| Seminar in Linguistics (Advanced Statistics for Language Science) | |
| Electives (3 quarters) | |
Other MA Degree Requirements
- Master's Thesis
- Demonstration of advanced proficiency in one non-English language (department assumes native or near-native proficiency in English)
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