Lx.@RU : Program : The Ph.D.
[Lx. Home | RU | Program: Ph.D., BA, Facilities]
[Curriculum, Requirements, Apply, Various, Courses, Questions?]
The program is structured from the start to facilitate the student's involvement in original research. In addition to course-related research, students present two qualifying papers, written in close consulation with faculty, in the 4th and 5th semesters. Students study each of the core areas intensively over the first year and a half, and then may specialize according to their interests. The curriculum also allows time for students to get involved with related areas: the Cognitive Science Center supports a Certificate Program which offers special opportunities for research in psycholinguistics and computational linguistics.
The graduate program, now in its fifth year, has some 20 students, of strikingly diverse backgrounds and with a very wide range of linguistic interests. Each year, the department is enriched by a number of scholarly visitors: currently, their specialties include language acquisition, phonological theory, formal semantics, and computational linguistics. A rotating faculty position, supported by the university, guarantees fresh input from first-rate outside researchers.
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The requirements stated below are binding on all graduate students in the Linguistics Ph. D. Program as of January 1999, and they supersede all previous statements of the program requirements. Some adjustments of these policies may be forthcoming, but students may count on the enforcement of requirements here stated.
A. Course Work
1. Students are required to take Syntax 1 and 2, Semantics
1 and 2, and Phonology 1 and 2, in their first year.
2. Students must take a third course in each area (syntax, semantics,
and phonology) in their first or second year.
3. Students are required to register for three semesters of the
Qualifying Paper Workshop, including Fall of year two, Spring
of year two and Fall of year three. If they wish they may register
for a fourth semester in Spring of year three.
4. Students must take four contentful courses (not research or
independent study credits)over and above those mentioned in §§A1-A3.
One of these four courses may be from the List of Appropriate
Courses in Other Departments (dated Spring 1999). This requirement
must be met by the end of year four.
5. Students may register for two semesters of Linguistics Colloquium.
The option for registering for the Colloquium is typically open
to students in their first year but the Graduate Director may
allow registration in a later year if it is deemed appropriate.
6. The graduate school requires a minimum of 72 credits for a
Ph. D degree, including at least 24 research credits. A full course
load for the semester is 12 credits but students can register
for up to 16 credits without petitioning. TA's get 6 credits towards
their minimum workload for the semester.
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B. Qualifying Papers
1. Students are required to write two qualifying papers. The papers
must be in different areas, and each paper must be defended before
a committee which will assign one of two grades, Pass or Fail.
2. For the first qualifying paper, students are required to:
(a) find an chairperson, who must approve the topic by November
1 of year two.
(b) form a committee of three faculty members (one is the chair),
and submit an abstract to this committee, by February 1 of year
two.
(c) defend the paper before this committee and obtain a Pass on
it, by May 1 of year two.
3. For the second qualifying paper, students are required to:
(a) find an chairperson, who must approve the topic, by May 1
of year two.
(b) form a committee of three faculty members (one is the chair),
and submit an abstract to this committee, by September 15 of year
three.
(c) defend the paper before this committee, and obtain a Pass
on it, by February I of year three.
4. On obtaining a pass on the two qualifying papers and completing
the contentful course requirement in Section A, students must
file the appropriate paper work with the Graduate School for Advancement
to Candidacy. The Graduate School requires Advancement to be completed
at least two semesters prior to the Dissertation defense.
C. Dissertation Proposal and Dissertation
1. Students are required to write a dissertation, which must
be defended before a committee which will assign one of two grades,
Pass or Fail. The following are the steps involved:
(a) form a committee of at least three faculty members, including
one designated as Chair by September 30 of year four.
(b) defend the dissertation proposal before this committee, and
obtain a Pass on it, by the end of Fall of year four.
(c) add an external committee member (that is, external to the
Department of Linguistics at Rutgers) by the end of Spring of
year four.
(d) defend the dissertation before the committee (the external
member may be absent), and obtain a Pass (from all the four members),
by the end of Spring of year five.
D. Language Requirement
There is no formal language requirement. Students without sufficient
exposure to languages other than English are vigorously encouraged
to take appropriate measures to correct this.
E. Standing in the Ph. D. Program
1. The faculty will meet each semester to discuss student progress.
For each student the faculty will decide whether the student's
current standing is Satisfactory (if the requirements stated in
(A)-(C) are met in a timely fashion) or Unsatisfactory (otherwise).
This decision will represent the overall assessment by the faculty
and will be based on all aspects of the student's work, including
the completed course work, any incompletes (how many and why),
progress on the qualifying papers, dissertation research, and
any other relevant factors.
2. For any student in unsatisfactory standing the faculty will
further decide on the appropriate course of action. Normally,
this will be either (a) or (b):
(a) the student may be allowed to continue in the program, subject
to meeting specified conditions for regaining satisfactory standing
by a specified deadline;
(b) alternatively, the faculty may decide that option (a) is not
feasible. Normally, this will imply that the student cannot continue
in the Ph. D. program. However, the student may still be awarded
a terminal M.A. degree at the discretion of the department.
3. Reporting on these decisions, the Graduate Director will write
a letter of standing to each student every semester. The letter
will inform the student about his or her current standing as well
as any recommendations made by the faculty at the meeting. Furthermore,
if the student is in unsatisfactory standing, the letter will
also convey the faculty decisions in regard to §E2(a) or
§E2(b), as appropriate.
For full information, go to Rutgers Graduate Admissions Home Page.
You may also request an application by regular mail to:
Office of Graduate and Professional Admissions Rutgers, The State University 18 Bishop Place, Box 5053 New Brunswick, NJ 08903
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We welcome applications from international students. The competition for TA's and fellowships is open to all qualified applicants.
Financial support is available in two forms: teaching assistantships and fellowships. The teaching assistantship (TA) covers tuition and provides a full-year stipend. The usual TA duty is to teach one course per semester. Fellowships, which have no teaching or other duties associated with them, come in several forms. Most fellowships derive from a competition involving all the graduate departments in the university. Although conditions are subject to change, we have had very good success to date in securing fellowship and TA support for our students.
University housing is available to graduate students, if they apply for it. The Greater New Brunswick Metropolitan Area also provides much private housing, and most of our students live off-campus.
Students do not enroll for the M.A.; a terminal master's degree is offered.
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16:615:505. Linguistics Colloquium
(3)
Presentation and discussion of current research by invited speakers,
departmental visitors, advanced graduate students, and faculty
members.
16:615:510.Syntax I (3)
Baker, Déprez, Grimshaw, Safir.
Introduction to syntactic theory and analysis. Provides fundamental
background in phrase structure theory, predicate argument structure,
grammatical function changing, conditions on anaphora, case-marking,
thematic roles, and long distance dependencies.
16:615:511. Syntax II (3)
Baker, Déprez, Grimshaw, Safir. Prerequisite: 16:615:510.
Intermediate level discussion of major issues in syntactic theory,
including theories of parametric variation, logical form and levels
of grammar, components and subtheories of grammar, and many other
issues.
16:615:514. Seminar in Syntactic
Theory (3)
Baker, Déprez, Grimshaw, Safir. Prerequisite: 16:615:511.
Exploration of a special topic arising from current research in
syntax.
16:615:517. Topics in Germanic Syntax
(3)
Safir. Prerequisite: working knowledge of generative grammar.
Further study of Germanic phenomena in the construction of syntactic
theory Emphasis on construction types that are of the greatest
theoretical and crosslinguistic interest.
16:615:520. Phonology I (3)
Akinlabi, Prince, Truckenbrodt.
Introduction to major phonological phenomena and concepts of current
theory, with emphasis on the development of analytical skills.
16:615:521. Phonology II (3)
Akinlabi, Prince, Truckenbrodt. Prerequisite: 16:615:520.
In-depth investigation of leading issues in current theory, with
focus on the structure of representations and the organization
of the phonological component of the grammar.
16:615:524. Seminar in Phonology
(3)
Akinlabi, Prince, Truckenbrodt. Prerequisite: 16:615:521.
Exploration of a special topic arising from current research in
phonological theory
16:615:530. Semantics I (3)
Bittner, Dayal, Schwarzschild.
Introduction to model-theoretic semantics. Topics include elementary
set theory, predicate logic, lambda-abstraction, and the semantics
of noun phrases, modals, intensional verbs, anaphora, ellipsis,
indexicality presupposition, and conversational implicature.
16:615:531. Semantics II (3)
Bittner, Dayal, Schwarzschild. Prerequisites: 16:615:510,
530.
Mathematical tools for relating syntactic structure to semantic
interpretation. Topics include higher-order logic, dynamic logic,
intensional logic, type theory, lambda-calculus, Boolean algebras,
and lattices.
16:615:532. Semantics III (3)
Bittner, Dayal, Schwarzschild. Prerequisites: 16:615:530,531.
The third introductory course to model-theoretic semantics, with
emphasis on reading technically difficult original studies in
the field.
16:615:534. Seminar in Semantics
(3)
Bittner, Dayal, Schwarzschild.. Prerequisites: 16:615:530,
531, 532.
Advanced seminar concerned with current issues in semantic theory.
Topics vary.
16:615:535. Semantic Theory in Typological
Perspective (3)
Bittner, Dayal, Schwarzschild.. Prerequisites: 16:615:530,
531, 532.
Addresses the cross-linguistic generalizations to be explained
by the semantic theory and the kinds of variations that must be
allowed. Topics vary.
16:615:610. Formal Methods for Linguistics
(3)
Bittner, Tesar.
Survey of leading ideas in logic, algebra, formal languages, computation,
mathematical analysis, statistics, and formal learning theory,
with application to linguistics, for students without advanced
mathematical backgrounds. Topics emphasized may vary with instructor.
16:615:631. Field Methods (3)
Analysis of the linguistic structure of an unfamiliar language,
based on in-class work with a native-speaker consultant.
16:615:660. Special Topics in Current
Linguistic Theory (3)
Topics of current research that cross sub-disciplinary boundaries.
16:615:690,691. Qualifying Paper Workshop
(3,3)
Students present work-in-progress on qualifying papers for discussion.
This course will be concerned both with the content of the research
and with developing effective methods of oral and written presentation.
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If you have questions, please feel free to write, call, or email any faculty member of the Linguistics Department:
Phone: 732-932-7289 FAX: -1370 email: linguist@rci.rutgers.edu
Or send an email message right now:
Graduate Advisor: Prof. Veneeta Dayal
Department Chair: Prof. Akinbiyi Akinlabi
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