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Linguistics
M.A. in Linguistics
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The M.A. program is appropriate for students seeking linguistic knowledge as a foundation for work in such allied professional fields as language teaching, interpreter education, language planning, bilingual education, and language assessment. Graduates of this program are sought for positions in interpreter training programs, faculty teaching posts at the college level, or, given the appropriate educational background, for positions as teachers of Deaf children.
Students pursuing the M.A. in Linguistics at Gallaudet receive solid grounding in linguistic theory, methods, and research with a special emphasis on sign language linguistics. The program begins with foundational courses in linguistic theory, centered on phonology, cognitive linguistics, and generative linguistics, focusing on both spoken and signed languages. Additionally, students receive training in working with new sign languages (Field Methods) and in various professional skills related to being a linguist (e.g. linguistic technical writing, use of video and software resources for analyzing sign data, applying for doctoral programs and jobs, etc.). In their second year, students select elective courses according to their interests; topics vary from year to year. The M.A. program requires 41 credit hours of coursework. Full-time graduate students normally complete the program in four semesters. The program is designed to be completed during the fall and spring semesters, without weekend or summer classes.
*NOTE: Students with prior coursework in linguistics from another institution may request course transfers and/or waivers for one or more courses, but these requests are approved on a case by case basis by the linguistics faculty.
Program Specific Requirements
Sign Language Fluency All applicants to the program must have sufficient fluency in American Sign Language (ASL) to participate fully in classroom discussions conducted in ASL. Applicants are requested to provide an ASL sample. Elective Courses in Linguistics Students must complete at least 15 credit hours of elective graduate courses in linguistics. Elective courses may be taken through the consortium and should focus on aspects of linguistic theory or research related to the student’s professional goals. Qualifying Examination All students must take a qualification exam after the first semester of coursework. Students who do not achieve a passing score will be dismissed from the program. MA Viva Exam The LIN MA Viva Exam is a program level assessment that occurs in students’ final year of the LIN MA program. This examination is conducted in ASL. LIN faculty members will pre-select test questions related to course content for (a) Field Methods (LIN 571), (b) two of the three core areas of the LIN MA program (Phonology, Generative Linguistics and Cognitive Linguistics; the student chooses which two to include), and (c) one of the elective courses the student has taken (the student chooses which elective course to include). Students will be evaluated by a subset of the LIN faculty for accuracy, clarity and organization of their signed responses. Failure to pass the Viva Exam may be grounds for dismissal from the program.
Summary of Requirements
Core Courses
This course will provide students with experience in gathering and analyzing data from a sign language other than ASL. The particular language selected will vary from year to year, with preference given to under-investigated sign languages. Students will study the lexicon, phonology, morphology, and syntax of this language; each student will focus on one topic for an in-depth research project.
Pre- or co-requisites: For UG students: LIN 301, 302; or Permission of Instructor; for Grad students: Permission of Instructor.
An introduction to the principles of linguistic study, with a concentrated focus on phonology and phonological theory as applied to English and ASL. Topics will include: phonetics, phonemics, phonological processes, syllables and syllabification, distinctive features, phonological rules, and an overview of current phonological theory.
This course provides an introduction to generative linguistics and principles of syntactic argumentation within the generative tradition. Topics include Parts of Speech, Phrase Structure rules, X-bar rules, the role of the Lexicon, and various types of syntactic movement related to verbal morphology, questions and passive constructions. The course focuses initially on English and other spoken languages, but also includes application to ASL towards the end of the course.
This course will introduce students to the profession of linguistics, its history and subfields, as well as the research specializations of department faculty. Students will also receive general training in a variety of skills relevant to graduate studies in linguistics, such as technical writing, using library resources to locate literature, using computer and editing techniques needed for carrying out sign linguistics projects, and applying for research grants and IRB approval for student research projects.
This is the first of a three-course sequence focusing on a cognitive linguistics approach to ASL. Examination of semiotic diversity in ASL from the perspective of Cognitive Grammar, with an emphasis on analysis of data. The primary focus of the course is on depiction, establishing a typology of depiction that includes many imagistic phenomena in ASL and other spoken and signed languages, such as enactments, manual depictive forms, and ideophones. Notions in Cognitive Grammar benefiting depiction analysis, such as constructions and construal, are also introduced.
This course builds on foundational material presented in Phonology I. Students will investigate the phonological structure of signs in American Sign Language. Part one (I) presents a comparison of notation systems for signs and provides extensive training in sign notation. Part two (II) deals with phonological contrast. Part three (III) is concerned with the phonotactic properties of lexical signs. Part four (IV) deals with phonological processes and historical change.
LIN 701 or permission of instructor.
This course is a continuation of LIN 721, with discussion of the tenets of cognitive linguistics, particularly the view that lexicon and grammar are a continuum of form-meaning pairings with varying degrees of abstraction and complexity. This discussion provides the theoretical background with which to investigate grammatical structures in ASL, English, and other languages, including metaphor, grammatical classes (e.g., noun and verb categories), and complex expressions (e.g., morphology, compounding, grammatical relations, and grammatical constructions).
LIN 721 or permission of instructor
This course builds on foundational material presented in Generative Linguistics I and extends them to the study of ASL and other sign languages. Lectures include continued opportunity for hands-on practice in deriving various syntactic structures, and also develop students' abilities to independently read and understand articles in generative linguistics.
LIN 702 or permission of instructor
Semester I - Fall
Semester II - Spring
Semester III - Fall
Semester IV - Spring
Sample of potential elective courses offered:
This course introduces students to the acquisition of a native language by young children (L1 acquisition) and acquisition of a second language after childhood (L2 acquisition), with a focus on sign languages. The first part of the course covers the important milestones of normal L1 development in phonology, morphology, syntax and pragmatics for both spoken and signed languages. The course also explores how delays in exposure affect the acquisition process, related to the main topics of the second part of the course: critical period effects and L2 acquisition. Readings and discussion throughout the course will reflect the perspective that acquisition studies on a broad variety of languages, both signed and spoken, are crucial for developing accurate theories of language structure and use. Application of concepts from lectures and discussion is developed through student analysis of L1 and L2 data.
For UG students: LIN 301, 302; for MASLED GRAD students: B or above in ASL 724 or permission of the instructor and MASLED program coordinator; for other GRAD students, permission of the instructor.
Students are introduced to a descriptive framework with which to identify and analyze iconicity and depiction in ASL and other signed languages and spoken languages as well. The course focuses on depiction typology, examining the structure of role-shifting, constructed action and dialogue, classifier constructions/depicting verbs, aspectual constructions, abstract/metaphorical depictions, and other imagistic uses of space, including different types of gesture.
LIN 101, graduate student status, or permission of the instructor.
This course explores bilingualism, with a special emphasis on bilingualism in the Gallaudet community. We will examine the place of bilingualism and multilingualism in the world, both historically and currently; the linguistic structure and features of bilingualism; social constructions of bilingualism; the acquisition of bilinguality, from the perspectives of both first- and second language acquisition; and we will explore the functions and meanings of bilingualism in communities. For each topic, we will examine the current state of the field, first from the perspective of spoken language bilingualism and then from the perspective of signed language (mixed modality) bilingualism, with special emphasis on the situation at 黑料老司机.
For UG students: LIN 101, 263, 301, 302; for Grad students: Permission of Instructor
This course introduces students to the theories and methods of analyzing prosody in signed and spoken languages. These prosodic features play a critical role in human communication and have a wide range of functions, including expression at linguistic, attitudinal, affective and personal levels.
An examination of the theories and principles of sociolinguistics with specific reference to sign languages and Deaf communities around the world. Topics include multilingualism, bilingualism, and language contact, variation, discourse analysis, language policy and planning and language attitudes.
All first year Linguistics MA courses or by permission of instructor.
This course is an advanced seminar focusing on phonological theory, building on foundational material presented in Phonology I and Phonology II. Topics will vary depending upon current developments in phonological theory, focusing on both spoken and signed languages.
LIN 731
This course is an advanced seminar focusing on generative approaches to syntactic theory, building on foundational material presented in Generative Syntax I and Generative Syntax II. Topics will vary depending upon current developments in syntactic theory, focusing on both spoken and signed languages.
LIN 733
This course examines general issues in first language acquisition, focusing on the period from birth to five years. It includes critical review of literature on phonological, lexical, morphological and syntactic development for both signed and spoken first languages, from both nativist and usage-based theoretical perspectives.
All first year Linguistics MA courses plus LIN 741, or permission of instructor.
This course will review current theory and research in second language acquisition (SLA) from linguistic and psychological perspectives, focusing on the influences of various theoretical models. Students will be introduced to the principal areas of SLA research and the major methodologies available for their study. Course material will focus on acquisition of a spoken second language, but also discuss recent studies and analyze data related to second language acquisition of a sign language.
This seminar is the third course in the Cognitive Linguistic sequence of courses in the graduate linguistics program (the first two being LIN 721 and LIN 732). Possible major topics include cognitive grammar, cognitive semantics, conceptual blending, constructional grammar, embodiment, depiction, mental spaces, metaphor, metonymy, and the usage-based approach to language.
LIN 732
The focus of this course is a comparison among six dominant approaches to the analysis of discourse: pragmatics, speech act theory, conversational analysis, interactional sociolinguistics, ethnography of communication, and variation analysis, with close examination of different kinds of sign language discourse.
All first year Linguistics MA courses, or permission of instructor
Completed application form. See Application Instructions to learn how. A non-refundable application fee of $75. A minimum 3.0 grade point average (on a four-point scale) in all previous undergraduate and graduate study. (Occasionally, applicants with a GPA lower than 3.0 may be admitted conditionally upon the...
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