Ph.D. Program

Ph.D. Curriculum

The program is structured by the guiding idea that linguistics is a unified discipline, with cross-fertilization between sub-disciplines a major source of growth and innovation. Students study each of the three core areas intensively over the first year and a half, and then specialize according to their interests.

From the start, the curriculum is designed to facilitate original research: in addition to course-related work, students present two qualifying papers, written in close consultation with faculty, one at the end of the second year, the other at the end of the third year. Dissertation research and writing take up the fourth and fifth years. Students are encouraged to gain expertise in other areas related to linguistics. Many students work closely with faculty in Cognitive Psychology, Philosophy, or Computer Science. The Center for Cognitive Science (RuCCS) supports a Cognitive Science Certificate Program to be pursued alongside the Ph.D., which offers special opportunities for research in psycholinguistics and computational linguistics.

Graduate Courses

Learning Goals and Assessment

Formal Requirements

A. Course Work
B. Qualifying Papers
C. Dissertation
D. Language Requirement
E. Standing in the Ph.D. Program
F. Graduate Program AI Policy

The requirements stated below apply to all graduate students entering the Linguistics Ph.D. Program currently (Fall 2021 or later). The curriculum requirements applicable to previous classes of Ph.D. students are available here.

A. Course Work

The Ph.D. program requires completion of 15 courses, as follows:

Students are required to take 2 courses (I and II) in each of the three core theoretical areas (Phonology, Semantics, Syntax) by the end of Year 2 (6 total courses). (Note: deferring I-level courses to Year 2 requires approval of the Graduate Program Director and the Graduate Faculty.)

Students are required to take 2 out of 3 ‘Methods’ courses by the end of Year 3: Experimental methods, Field methods, and Computational methods.

• These courses are not strictly speaking ‘methods’ courses; they are any courses that are taught primarily in this area, with a significant ‘hands-on’ component in data collection and analysis (from an Experimental, Computational, or Fieldwork perspective/approach).
• Students may take more than one course within a method area (e.g., a student interested in Psycholinguistics could take multiple ‘Experimental methods courses’ such as laboratory phonology, acquisition, or sentence processing).
• Coverage of these courses will be represented across various faculty, ensuring diversity in approaches and content (e.g., a ‘Fieldwork methods’ course could be taught by a phonologist or syntactician; a ‘Computational methods’ course could be taught by a semanticist or a phonologist; an ‘Experimental methods’ course could be taught by a laboratory phonologist, an acquisitionist, or an experimental semanticist).

Students are required to register for Academic and Professional Development in the Fall of Year 2 and the Spring of Year 2. In this course, students writing their qualifying papers receive career preparedness training for linguists with advanced degrees, including academic, professional, and ethical standards in modern Linguistics. Students also present on the progress of their qualifying papers for discussion and constructive feedback.

Students must take 5 additional 3-credit courses (not research or independent study credits) by the end of year 4. This can include courses of the following types:

• “Faculty-chosen specialty topic” seminars
• “Current topics in subarea X” courses
• Additional methods courses
• Up to 2 courses from other departments, or other universities (e.g., NYU), subject to the approval of the Graduate Program Director

Summary of these requirements, and a typical trajectory through the Ph.D. program:

YEAR 1: Coursework

• Fall semester: Syntax I, Phonology I, Semantics I (with possibility of delaying one to Year 2 to take a Methods course or another course (e.g., Statistics); as stated above, this requires approval of the Graduate Program Director and the Graduate Faculty)
• Spring semester: Syntax II, Phonology II, Semantics II (with possibility of delaying to Year 2 to take a Methods course or another course (e.g., Statistics))

YEAR 2: Coursework, Qualifying Paper 1

• Fall semester: Academic and Professional Development, possibility of one I-level course, Methods course, or another course (e.g., Statistics)
• Spring semester: Academic and Professional Development, possibility of Syntax II, Phonology II, Semantics II, Methods course, or another course

YEAR 3: Further coursework, Qualifying Paper 2

• Fall semester: TA for 201
• Spring semester: teach 201

YEARS 4: Further coursework, Dissertation, Additional Teaching (if applicable)

IMPORTANT: On obtaining a Pass on BOTH QPs and completing the 15 courses required by the Linguistics Department, students must file the appropriate paperwork with the School of Graduate Studies for Admission to Candidacy. The School of Graduate Studies requires Admission to be completed at least two semesters prior to the Dissertation defense.

A full course load is 9 credits per semester. Students can register for up to 12 credits with the permission of the GPD.

The School of Graduate Studies requires a minimum of 72 credits for a Ph.D. degree, divided into 48 course credits and 24 research credits. (Note: earning 48 credits requires an additional 3-credit course to be taken beyond the 15 courses required by the Linguistics Department.)

TAs receive 6 credits towards their minimum workload for each semester.

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B. Qualifying Papers

Students are required to write two Qualifying Papers (QPs): one in the second year, and the other in the third year. The QPs must be in distinct areas and use different methodological approaches.  Each QP must be defended before a Qualifying Paper committee, which assigns the QP one of two grades: Pass or Fail.

The committee comprises three members of the Graduate Faculty for Linguistics (Full Members of the Linguistics Department and Associate Members from other departments). Prior approval of the Graduate Program Director is needed to include members from outside the Graduate Faculty for Linguistics. Of these, the Chair and at least one other member, must be full members of the Linguistics Department.

The timeline for the first two QPs, including key deadlines, is as follows:

 
Note that student standing is tied to a student meeting the above deadlines. Notification of a change in standing, and the conditions leading up to it, is discussed among faculty, and is conveyed to the student after the fact by the Graduate Program Director. 

On obtaining a Pass on BOTH QPs and completing the contentful course requirement discussed in (A), students must file the appropriate paperwork with the School of Graduate Studies for Admission to Candidacy. The School of Graduate Studies requires Admission to be completed at least two semesters prior to Dissertation defense.

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C. Dissertation

Ph.D students are required to write a dissertation. The dissertation must be defended before a Dissertation committee, which will assign one of two grades: Pass or Fail.

The committee compromises three internal members and one external member. The three internal members must belong to the Graduate Faculty for Linguistics (Full Members of the Linguistics Department and Associate Members from other Departments). Of these, the chair and at least one other member must be full members of the Linguistics Department. The fourth member must be from outside the Graduate Faculty for Linguistics

Beginning in Year 4, the following steps are involved in the Dissertation process:

• By September 30 of year 4: Form a committee of at least three faculty members, including one designated as Chair
• By the end of the Fall semester of year 4: Defend a dissertation proposal before the committee, and obtain a Pass on it
• By the end of Spring semester of year 4: Add an external committee member. The appointment has to go through the Graduate Program Director and needs the approval of the chair of the Dissertation committee.
• By the end of Spring semester of year 5: Defend the dissertation before the committee (the external member may be absent), and obtain a Pass from all the four members.

The official information from the School of Graduate Studies about the dissertation, including the style guide and formatting, required forms, and a checklist may be found here. Specific instructions from SGS, including the Application for a Ph.D., may be found here.

Our Linguistics Ph.D. Program is designed to be a 5-year program. The School of Graduate Studies requires that the dissertation be completed within 7 years of entry into a program, with the proviso that the candidate must apply for 1-year extensions thereafter. The Linguistics Department will grant no more than three such extensions, except in the most extraordinary circumstances. Students must make a formal request for extension to the Graduate Program Director at least two months in advance.

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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. 

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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 or Unsatisfactory (Academic Warning Initial or Final, or Failure to Progress). 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 coursework, 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) the student may be allowed to continue in the program, subject to meeting specified conditions for regaining satisfactory standing by a specified deadline; OR
   (b) if the faculty decide that option (a) is not feasible, the student cannot continue in the Ph. D. program. In this case, the student may still be awarded a terminal M.A. degree at the discretion of the department.
3. Reporting on these decisions in (1) and (2), the Graduate Director will write a letter of standing to each graduate student every semester. The letter will inform the student about their current standing, as well as any recommendations made by the faculty members at the meeting. Furthermore, if the student is in Unsatisfactory standing, the letter will also convey the faculty decisions in regards to the aforementioned points discussed above, as appropriate, indicating the course of action decided in (2).
4. The most important consideration in standing is adherence to program deadlines. Changes in standing can and and will apply if the student fails to meet deadlines outlined in (B) and (C) above, or in any other deadlines as outlined in standing letters referenced in (E3). 

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F. Graduate Program AI Policy

AI policy for qualifying papers, dissertations, and scholarly submissions

For qualifying papers and dissertations, we have  a minimal use with acknowledgement policy, following the standard practice of most peer-reviewed journals (see below).

In terms of creating linguistic, auditory, and visual stimuli, example sentences, images and figures, or code that will be shared as part of research, any use must be explicitly acknowledged in the work. Students should also consult with their advisor that any such use falls under proper academic conduct.

In terms of writing, students may use generative AI for minor use, such as copyediting and grammar checking, or to help with coding LaTeX, but not to produce ideas or writing beyond automated suggestions of how to reword phrasing. Again, any use of generative AI must be acknowledged in the submitted document.

For any submission to a conference or journal, the student’s current faculty advisor must see the draft to be submitted, and that faculty member must be informed of any ways in which AI was used to create the submission. More specifically, the student should:

• Review the AI policy of the conference or journal well in advance of the final draft to ensure that they are in compliance with the policy and will be able to submit the draft.
• Share the final draft with the advising faculty member within a reasonable timeframe before the submission.

Any and all authors of the submission are responsible for the submission. Faculty members who advise on the work and who review the work prior to submission are not ultimately responsible for adherence to AI guidelines.

AI policies for graduate courses

Within our graduate curriculum, we do not need to offer a single policy that covers all graduate courses. Instead, we encourage all instructors to select or develop a policy that they believe best aligns with the course learning goals and objectives. Instructors can consult with the GPD in coming up with their policy.

Some examples are (taken from Duke’s AI Policies: Guidelines and Considerations Retrieved 3/30/2026).

• Use Prohibited: Students are not allowed to use advanced automated tools (artificial intelligence or machine learning tools such as ChatGPT or Dall-E 2) on assignments in this course. Each student is expected to complete each assignment without substantive assistant from others, including automated tools.
• Use only with prior permission: Students are allowed to use advanced automated tools (artificial intelligence or machine learning tools such as ChatGPT or Dall-E 2) on assignments in this course if instructor permission is obtained in advance. Unless given permission to use those tools, each student is expected to complete each assignment without substantive assistance from others, including automated tools.
• Use only with acknowledgement: Students are allowed to use advanced automated tools (artificial intelligence or machine learning tools such as ChatGPT or Dall-E 2) on assignments in this course if that use is properly documented and credited. For example, text generated using ChatGPT-3 should include a citation such as: "Chat-GPT-3. (YYYY, Month DD of query.) "Text of your query." Generated using OpenAI. https://chat.openai.com/". Material generated using other tools should follow a similar citation convention.
• Use is freely permitted with no acknowledgement (NOTE: We strongly discourage this option for our courses at Rutgers.): Students are allowed to use advanced automated tools (artificial intelligence or machine learning tools such as ChatGPT or Dall-E 2) on assignments in this course; no special documentation or citation is required.

Instructors may also choose to prohibit use for some assignments or portions of certain assignments, but allow it for others. This is acceptable as long as it is clearly stated in the syllabus and conveyed to the students verbally at the beginning of the semester, and then reiterated to the students via Canvas for the assignments in question.

It may be useful to adopt guidelines on generative AI used by publishers, such as MIT Press’s AI policy or the guidelines for the journal Phonology. For example, here is a useful quote from MIT Press’s ethics statement: “Authors who use AI tools to produce text or images/graphics, or to collect data, must inform their editors of this use”.
Students who use AI are strongly encouraged to use the University-approved AI tools.

Communication of AI policies

The AI policy for a given course should be clearly stated in the syllabus and on the class Canvas site. The instructor should also make time to go over the policy at the beginning of the semester, and remind students again before their first assignment in person and/or on Canvas. 

Instructors should also provide a rationale for the policy and be open to discussion and questions from students. Topics for discussion may include

• The tendency for AI to produce inaccurate responses or information (i.e., "hallucinations")
• The deleterious effects of an over-reliance on generative AI on writing skills and independent thinking
• The capacity for AI to steer a user towards research misconduct
• The ethical issues and environmental impacts of generative AI
• Open discussion of AI tools currently used by students and instructors

Students should  talk with instructors if they are unsure whether a particular AI use is permitted in the course or not. 

For graduate students, it is also imperative to communicate the extent to which academic conferences and journals are sensitive to AI-generated content and that undisclosed use of AI in work submitted to journals or conferences is academic misconduct and can result in serious sanctions. It is strongly recommended to share publisher policy language on generative AI content (such as those from MIT Press or Phonology linked above).

Academic Integrity Policy and violations involving AI

The University Academic Integrity Policy should be included on the syllabus and on Canvas, along with what the consequences are for violating this policy. According to the Rutgers Academic Integrity Policy 10.2.13 , all coursework must be “the student’s own and created without the aid of impermissible technologies, materials, or collaborations.” A violation of the stated AI policy should be therefore reported as an academic integrity violation. 

Instructors have different options for determining whether a student used AI in an unauthorized way. In line with advice from OTEAR, we do not recommend the use of AI detectors, as they can be unreliable. We also do not recommend the use of invisible/hidden instructions, as this damages the trust between student and instructor.

Instead, we suggest approaching suspected unauthorized AI use like other forms of academic integrity violations (adapted from OTEAR):

• Review the work in the context of the student's other work. Has the students writing style or analytical ability changed dramatically between assignments?
• Does the work contain fabricated citations or references?

The GPD can help make determinations of AI use and/or other academic integrity issues if there is a case that is unclear. If the instructor or advisor suspects that an unauthorized use of AI has occurred based on the criteria above, they will consult the GPD and share with them the evidence that led them to conclude there was unauthorized AI use. The GPD may then consult the Chair.

Sanctions for Academic Integrity Violations

If the instructor/advisor in consultation with the GPD determines that the student has violated academic integrity using AI, they will determine the severity of the offense, possibly in consultation with the Chair. In doing so, they will consult the Rutgers checklist for adjudicating an allegation of Academic Dishonesty.

For a less serious case, such as a first-time offense concerning coursework, it is likely that it is a Level 1 violation, and the instructor can handle the matter themselves. The student must be contacted via email and alerted to the alleged offense. When the instructor meets with the student about the offense, the instructor should be supportive and demonstrate empathy. Academic misconduct does not happen in a vacuum and, especially in the case with graduate students, it is important to examine the circumstances that led them to make the choice to misuse AI. The graduate faculty will be informed of the offense.

For more serious cases, such as a repeat offense or the substantial use of AI in a qualifying paper submission, the entire graduate faculty will be consulted to determine how the student’s standing in the program be impacted.

In any event in which a graduate student is found to have misused AI, the GPD will discuss the situation with the entire Linguistics graduate faculty so that the faculty can work together to better handle future cases and possibly revisit the policy in light of new developments.

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