integrated phd linguistics

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Integrated PhD Linguistics

University of essex, different course options.

• Key information

Course Summary

Tuition fees, entry requirements, university information, similar courses at this uni, key information data source : idp connect, qualification type.

PhD/DPhil - Doctor of Philosophy

Subject areas

Linguistics

Course type

Our four-year integrated PhD Linguistics follows the MRes Linguistics programme for year 1 before beginning the PhD study programme within the department in year 2. By opting for our four-year Integrated course, you will benefit from guidance and training to develop the research mind set needed for your PhD studies.

We offer a three-year supervised research route for students with a solid knowledge of existing research in the field and a good understanding of research methods.

On our three-year supervised research route, if you already have a solid knowledge of existing research in your field and a good understanding of research methods, plus a suitable research proposal, you immediately begin your independent research, under the guidance of your supervisor.

Within the Department of Language and Linguistics, throughout your research studies, your training needs will be regularly assessed. Every six months your progress is formally checked by a supervisory panel consisting of your supervisor, an adviser, and a chairperson. At least once a year this meeting takes place face to face to discuss how you are getting on. You report on your progress in writing by completing a form twice a year.

Your thesis has a maximum length of 80,000 words.

Your future

Given the breadth of our provision within the Department of Language and Linguistics, career prospects for our graduates vary depending on the study undertaken. Often the career destination of our PhD students is university lecturing or research. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the areas of linguistics we cover, this could be in departments of English, linguistics, education, sociology, or cognitive science.

UK fees Course fees for UK students

To be confirmed

International fees Course fees for EU and international students

For this course (per year)

You will need a 2.2 Honours Degree, or equivalent, in a related subject. Our four year integrated PhD, allows you to spend your first year studying at Masters level in order to develop the necessary knowledge and skills and to start your independent research in year two.

The University of Essex prides itself on being at the forefront of change. It is an institution with a culture of boldness where creativity and curiosity in learning are both encouraged and expected. It’s a UK university, placing 36th and 32nd according to the Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023 and the 2024 Complete University Guide rankings, respectively. At the University of Essex, students are taught by world-leading academics in a... more

MA Linguistics

Full time | 1 year | 03-OCT-24

MA Applied Linguistics

Full time | 1 year | OCT-24

MRes Linguistics

Phd psycholinguistics.

Full time | 4 years | APR-24

MA English Language and Linguistics

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Linguistics, PhD

The Ph.D. program in Linguistics at Penn embraces a wide range of theoretical specializations and methodologies. What unites them is a commitment to careful and explicit formal analysis of the human capacity for learning and using language.

The core of our program is the formal generative tradition, but we encourage the cross-fertilization that results from the confrontation of empirical and theoretical perspectives on language structure. By our close collaboration with other programs (such as computer science and psychology) we promote an awareness of the broad view of language that interdisciplinary study induces. In addition to broad training, students are offered and expected to master the methods and results of their chosen areas of concentration in linguistics as a prerequisite to fruitful engagement in dialogue with others, both within and outside the program.

For more information: https://www.ling.upenn.edu/graduate/

View the University’s Academic Rules for PhD Programs .

Required Courses

The total course units required for graduation is 20. A minimum of 12 course units must be taken at the University of Pennsylvania.

The degree and major requirements displayed are intended as a guide for students entering in the Fall of 2023 and later. Students should consult with their academic program regarding final certifications and requirements for graduation.

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PhD in Computation, Cognition and Language

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Linguistics at Cambridge is unique in the UK in that study and research in theoretical and applied linguistics are integrated within in a single academic unit. We provide great variety and flexibility in course contents as well as subject-specific training and diversity of intellectual interactions.

The PhD in Computation, Cognition and Language is a PhD track for students who conduct basic and applied research in the computational study of language, communication, and cognition, in humans and machines. This research is interdisciplinary in nature and draws on methodology and insights from a range of disciplines that are now critical for the further development of language sciences, including (but not limited to) Linguistics, Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Psychology and Neuroscience. A variety of PhD topics that fall within this remit are accepted. Our current primary areas of research are:

• natural language processing

• computational and corpus linguistics

• computational models of human language acquisition and processing

• information extraction, mining, and presentation

• multilingual technology

• educational and assistive technology

• text data technology for health

• computational digital humanities

• computational approaches to the analysis of speech

• digital forensic speech analysis

In British universities, the PhD is traditionally awarded solely on the basis of a thesis, a substantial piece of writing which reports original research into a closely defined area of enquiry. The completion of the PhD thesis is generally expected to take three to four years, and most funding is based on this assumption.  It is also possible to take a part-time route, and the expected timeframe would be five to seven years.

While the PhD is not a taught course, students will benefit from the availability of courses and seminars offered both within the MMLL Faculty and by other departments concerned with language science in Cambridge (e.g. Computer Science and Technology, Education, Engineering, Psychology, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit). All research students also benefit from a programme of professional training run at various levels within the University and enabling cross-disciplinary interactions. The programme includes seminars and workshops on e.g. giving conference papers, publishing, applications and interviews, teaching skills, and specialist linguistic training. If you wish, you are likely to be given the opportunity of gaining experience in small group teaching for colleges. There may also be opportunities to gain some experience in teaching in the Faculty.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the programme, candidates will have acquired excellent skills, experience and knowledge to undertake postdoctoral work (research and teaching) or another related profession.

For Cambridge students applying to continue from the MPhil by Advanced Study to PhD, the minimum academic requirement is an overall distinction in the MPhil.

For Cambridge students applying to continue from the MPhil by Thesis to PhD, the usual academic requirement is a pass in the MPhil.

All applications are judged on their own merits and students must demonstrate their suitability to undertake doctoral level research.

The Postgraduate Virtual Open Day usually takes place at the end of October. It’s a great opportunity to ask questions to admissions staff and academics, explore the Colleges virtually, and to find out more about courses, the application process and funding opportunities. Visit the  Postgraduate Open Day  page for more details.

See further the  Postgraduate Admissions Events  pages for other events relating to Postgraduate study, including study fairs, visits and international events.

Departments

This course is advertised in the following departments:

• Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics
• Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics

Key Information

3-4 years full-time, 4-7 years part-time, study mode : research, doctor of philosophy, department of theoretical and applied linguistics this course is advertised in multiple departments. please see the overview tab for more details., course - related enquiries, application - related enquiries, course on department website, dates and deadlines:, lent 2024 (closed).

Some courses can close early. See the Deadlines page for guidance on when to apply.

Michaelmas 2024

Funding deadlines.

These deadlines apply to applications for courses starting in Michaelmas 2024, Lent 2025 and Easter 2025.

Similar Courses

• Linguistics: Theoretical and Applied Linguistics PhD
• Machine Learning and Machine Intelligence MPhil
• Advanced Computer Science MPhil
• Computer Science PhD

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Linguistics and English Language PhD

Awards: PhD

Funding opportunities

Programme website: Linguistics and English Language

The transformative supervision meetings, labs, professional training and departmental research seminars are all conducive to a thriving linguistics training. I am exposed to cutting-edge training and research. This inspiring environment allows me to conduct world-leading research in bilingualism. Katerina Pantoula Current PhD student in Linguistics & English Language

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Research profile

We have an outstanding international reputation in many areas of Linguistics and English Language research.

Linguistics & English Language is rated 3rd in the UK by Times Higher Education for the quality and breadth of the research using the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021).

We can offer expert supervision across a wide range of topics, including:

• Applied Linguistics
• Developmental linguistics, including first and second language acquisition
• Discourse and conversation analysis
• Historical English linguistics, including the syntax, morphology, and phonology from the earliest periods to the present day
• Language evolution
• Linguistic fieldwork
• Morphology, including word formation
• Multilingualism
• Phonetics and phonology, including diachronic phonology and the phonology of varieties of English, Scots and their history
• Sociolinguistics
• Speech technology
• Syntax and semantics, including theoretical syntax, descriptive syntax of English, diachronic syntax and both lexical and formal semantics
• Varieties of English, both British and international

Research groups

Our expertise clusters in a number of research groups and research centres:

• Developmental Linguistics
• English Language
• Language Evolution & Computation (LEC)
• Language in Context
• Language Variation and Change (LVC)
• Meaning and Grammar
• Phonetics and Phonology
• Centre for Language Evolution
• Bilingualism Matters

Research in speech technology is carried out at the Centre for Speech Technology Research, a collaboration between the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences and Informatics:

• Centre for Speech Technology Research

Training and support

You will receive supervision by at least two members of academic staff, who will meet regularly with you to discuss your progress and wider issues in your field of study.

This may include:

• discussion of relevant literature (for example, journal articles and book chapters)
• Firming up of research proposal
• Preparation for fieldwork and data collection
• discussion of draft chapters of your thesis
• preparation for conference presentations

Research students are assigned to research groups, each of which hosts regular research activities.

The department also has a visiting speaker series (the Linguistic Circle), and you are encouraged to participate in the School’s Language at Edinburgh research network.

The unrivalled holdings of the University and National Libraries and the National Archives of Scotland make study of this subject at Edinburgh especially attractive.

Our students become part of one of the biggest communities of linguists in the United Kingdom.

We have state-of-the art technical and laboratory facilities:

• School resources
• Find out more about our community

The School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences is home to a large, supportive and active student community, hosting events and activities throughout the year which you can join. As a postgraduate student, you will have access to a range of research resources, state-of-the-art facilities research seminars and reading groups.

Career opportunities

While many of our PhD graduates choose to remain in academia as lecturers and researchers, going onto post-doctoral opportunities or progressing into faculty positions, some pursue employment and careers in other sectors.

Important application information

Find a research opportunity that matches your interests.

• View our main research areas

Write a research proposal

Your research proposal will be used to consider whether the proposed research is feasible and can be supervised by our staff members, so it is important that your theoretical and methodological preparation for it are clear.

We understand that it can be difficult to formulate research plans well in advance of carrying out the work, but we encourage you to articulate your ideas as clearly as possible. You should draft your proposal several times and, ideally, seek comments on it from other people (perhaps from your referees or former lecturers) before submitting it.

It is recommended that you contact your planned supervisor(s) well in advance of the deadline to identify a suitable topic for your research proposal.

You should then draft the research proposal independently and then discuss it with your planned supervisor(s), revising it based on their comments and suggestions.

Each PhD thesis contains several theoretical and empirical chapters. Your proposal should focus on the empirical work, laying out plans for at least two empirical studies (further plans can be worked out as you progress). Ideally, each of the studies should be a publishable journal article; students are strongly encouraged to publish their work in collaboration with their supervisors.

Your proposal must not exceed 1000 words; the panel may not read the part of your proposal exceeding the limit. This does not include references.

Your proposal should include:

• A title for the project
• A brief background for the planned research question(s)
• A compelling, brief rationale for the studies, including the specific research questions/hypotheses
• A description of the methodology for addressing these questions/hypotheses, which generally includes:
• Sufficiently large sample(s) of participants (allowing for appropriate statistical power) and measurement/experimental procedures
• If using existing data (e.g., data from large cohort studies or biobanks, imaging data sets, etc.), describe the data sets
• Your data analytical approach (e.g., suitable statistical models)
• If using qualitative data such as interviews, describe your methods and analytical approach
• Note that the methodology should be realistic, within the resources and time-scales available to you and your supervisor(s), and also allowing for necessary time for writing the thesis
• An indication of how your proposed work fits with and contributes to the research programme of your planned supervisor(s).

A PhD thesis typically means teamwork, involving the student and one or two supervisors, and often also other members of the research group(s) of the supervisor(s); a student receives training and help form the team, but can also contribute to the team with their research. Applicants who can show a good fit with a supervising team have an advantage.

We may ask for a brief (Zoom or MS Teams) interview with you if we have further questions.

If your application is successful, we expect that your research will develop. It is likely that your supervisor(s) or those reviewing the work will suggest changes or developments to your research as your studies progress.

Therefore, you will not be held to the ideas that you explain in your proposal during the course of your research.

• How to write a good PG research proposal

Contact potential supervisors prior to making an application

We strongly encourage you to get in touch with a potential supervisor, and to include their name in your application.

When contacting a potential supervisor, please include a draft proposal and CV as this will provide the starting point for discussion. You can introduce yourself by explaining why their work interests you.

Please note that our academic staff are very busy and it may take time for them to respond to your enquiry.

• View our staff profiles and contact details

Get ready to apply

In order to ensure full consideration of your application, we ask that you submit your complete application including all supporting documentation.

You will be asked to add contact details for your referees. We will email them with information on how to upload their reference directly to your online application. Please allow plenty of time as we can only consider your application once we have received your full application, including your references.

• Find out more about the application process

Consider your funding options

There are a number of funding opportunities both within the University and externally. Funding is highly competitive at PhD level.

• More information on funding

Pre-application Checklist

To receive a pre-arrival checklist to help you with your application, please email the PPLS Postgraduate Office at

• [email protected]

Please complete this checklist to keep track of your application preparations. Please submit the completed checklist as an additional document to your application.

Language Sciences at Edinburgh

Entry requirements.

These entry requirements are for the 2024/25 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2025/26 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2024.

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in English language, linguistics, or a related subject.

Your academic achievements will be assessed by a panel of academics along with the research proposal submitted as part of your application.

(Revised 19 February 2024 to clarify entry requirements and assessment methods.)

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country
• English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.5 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 23 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced ( CAE ) / C2 Proficiency ( CPE ): total 185 with at least 176 in each component.
• Trinity ISE : ISE III with passes in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 70 with at least 62 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS , TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE , in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old* at the beginning of your programme of study. (*Revised 05 March 2024 to extend degree validity to five years.)

Find out more about our language requirements:

• Fees and costs

Read our general information on tuition fees and studying costs:

Scholarships and funding

Only applications received by the Round 1 deadline will be considered for University of Edinburgh based funding.

You may be able to secure external funding outside of this deadline.

Featured funding

• Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities Funding
• Scottish Graduate School of Social Science Funding
• [College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Awards] ( https://www.ed.ac.uk/ppls/linguistics-and-english-language/prospective/postgraduate/funding-research-students/arts-humanities-soc-sci-research-awards )
• [Edinburgh Doctoral College Scholarships] ( https://www.ed.ac.uk/student-funding/postgraduate/international/other-funding/doctoral-college )

UK government postgraduate loans

If you live in the UK, you may be able to apply for a postgraduate loan from one of the UK’s governments.

The type and amount of financial support you are eligible for will depend on:

• your programme
• the duration of your studies
• your tuition fee status

Programmes studied on a part-time intermittent basis are not eligible.

• UK government and other external funding

Other funding opportunities

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

• Search for funding

Further information

• PPLS Postgraduate Office
• Phone: +44 (0)131 651 5002
• Contact: [email protected]
• Dugald Stewart Building
• 3 Charles Street
• Central Campus
• Programme: Linguistics and English Language
• School: Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences
• College: Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

This programme is not currently accepting applications. Applications for the next intake usually open in October.

Start date: September

Application deadlines

Only applications received by the Round 1 deadline will be considered for University of Edinburgh based funding. You may be able to secure external funding outside of this deadline.

We operate a gathered field approach to PhD applications.

This means that all complete applications which satisfy our minimum entry requirements will be held until the nearest deadline. The admissions panel will meet to consider all applications received together after that date.

Applications are held for processing over two deadlines:

• How to apply

Please read through the ‘Important application information’ section on this page before applying.

Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:

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PhD Linguistics

• Ask a question
• Get a prospectus

Entry requirements

Fees and funding.

• What's next?

Our four-year integrated PhD Linguistics follows the MRes Linguistics programme for year 1 before beginning the PhD study programme within the department in year 2. By opting for our four-year Integrated course, you will benefit from guidance and training to develop the research mind set needed for your PhD studies.

We offer a three-year supervised research route for students with a solid knowledge of existing research in the field and a good understanding of research methods.

• We are 1st in UK for research impact in modern languages and linguistics (Grade Point Average, Research Excellence Framework 2021).
• Our students are taught, supported and supervised by staff with an international reputation for being at the forefront of research in their areas of expertise
• We have a strong research group culture and run regular departmental seminars which feature invited external speakers.

Our expert staff

Within our Department of Language and Linguistics, you will be allocated a supervisor whose role it is to guide you through the different stages of your research degree. In some cases, you may have joint supervision by two members of our staff.

The support provided by your supervisor is a key feature of your research student experience and you will have regular one-to-one meetings to discuss progress on your research. Initially, your supervisor will help you develop your research topic and plan.

Twice a year, you will have a supervisory board meeting, which provides a more formal opportunity to discuss your progress and agree your plans for the next six months.

Specialist facilities

Within the Department of Language and Linguistics, we aim to provide our research students with work and storage space, including laboratory facilities and access to online bibliographies, corpora and other resources.

The University of Essex has excellent library holdings in all areas of linguistics, with online access to many periodicals and resources. We have open access computing labs running many software packages that our research students need in their work.

Your future

Given the breadth of our provision within the Department of Language and Linguistics, career prospects for our graduates vary depending on the study undertaken. Often the career destination of our PhD students is university lecturing or research. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the areas of linguistics we cover, this could be in departments of English, linguistics, education, sociology or cognitive science.

UK entry requirements

You will need a 2.2 Honours Degree, or equivalent, in a related subject.

Our four year integrated PhD, allows you to spend your first year studying at Masters level in order to develop the necessary knowledge and skills and to start your independent research in year two.

International & EU entry requirements

We accept a wide range of qualifications from applicants studying in the EU and other countries. Get in touch with any questions you may have about the qualifications we accept. Remember to tell us about the qualifications you have already completed or are currently taking.

Sorry, the entry requirements for the country that you have selected are not available here. Please select your country page where you'll find this information.

English language requirements

Course structure.

Our four-year integrated PhD Linguistics follows the MRes Linguistics programme.

Progression to the second year of the programme requires an overall weighted average of 65% or above, and a dissertation mark of 65% or above in year one.

Starting the second year, the programme follows the structure of the three-year programme for the PhD Linguistics degree.

We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision for you. We'll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities as described on our website and in line with your contract with us. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to significant disruption, we'll let our applicants and students know as soon as possible.

Components are the blocks of study that make up your course. A component may have a set module which you must study, or a number of modules from which you can choose.

Each component has a status and carries a certain number of credits towards your qualification.

The modules that are available for you to choose for each component will depend on several factors, including which modules you have chosen for other components, which modules you have completed in previous years of your course, and which term the module is taught in.

Modules are the individual units of study for your course. Each module has its own set of learning outcomes and assessment criteria and also carries a certain number of credits.

In most cases you will study one module per component, but in some cases you may need to study more than one module. For example, a 30-credit component may comprise of either one 30-credit module, or two 15-credit modules, depending on the options available.

Modules may be taught at different times of the year and by a different department or school to the one your course is primarily based in. You can find this information from the module code . For example, the module code HR100-4-FY means:

COMPONENT 01: COMPULSORY

View Language and Linguistics: Research on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 01: CORE

What research topic fascinates you? Can you write 22,000 words about it? Investigate a dissertation topic of your choosing, with supervision from our expert staff. Undertake careful planning and research to produce a substantial piece of writing. Build your knowledge of the subject, alongside your project management skills and research abilities.

View Dissertation (Research) on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 02: OPTIONAL

COMPONENT 03: OPTIONAL

COMPONENT 04: OPTIONAL

On our three-year supervised research route, if you already have a solid knowledge of existing research in your field and a good understanding of research methods, plus a suitable research proposal, you immediately begin your independent research, under the guidance of your supervisor.

Within the Department of Language and Linguistics, throughout your research studies, your training needs will be regularly assessed. Every six months your progress is formally checked by a supervisory panel consisting of your supervisor, an adviser, and a chairperson. At least once a year this meeting takes place face to face to discuss how you are getting on. You report on your progress in writing by completing a form twice a year.

Your thesis has a maximum length of 80,000 words.

Dissertation

Within our Department of Language and Linguistics, throughout your research studies, your training needs will be regularly assessed. Every six months your progress is formally checked by a supervisory board consisting of your supervisor, an adviser, and a chairperson. You fill in a form answering questions about your progress, and there may be a face to face meeting to discuss how you are getting on.

Home/UK fee

£4,786 per year

International fee

£18,750 per year

Fees will increase for each academic year of study.

Masters fees and funding information

Research (e.g. PhD) fees and funding information

What's next

We hold Open Days for all our applicants throughout the year. Our Colchester Campus events are a great way to find out more about studying at Essex, and give you the chance to:

• tour our campus and accommodation
• find out answers to your questions about our courses, graduate employability, student support and more
• talk to our Fees and Funding team about scholarship opportunities
• meet our students and staff

If the dates of our organised events aren’t suitable for you, feel free to get in touch by emailing [email protected] and we’ll arrange an individual campus tour for you.

2024 Open Days (Colchester Campus)

• Saturday 15 June 2024 - Open Day
• Saturday 21 September 2024 - Open Day
• Saturday 26 October 2024 - Open Day

You can apply for this postgraduate course online . Before you apply, please check our information about necessary documents that we'll ask you to provide as part of your application.

We encourage you to make a preliminary enquiry directly to a potential supervisor or the Graduate Administrator within your chosen Department or School. We encourage the consideration of a brief research proposal prior to the submission of a full application.

We aim to respond to applications within four weeks. If we are able to offer you a place, you will be contacted via email.

For information on our deadline to apply for this course, please see our ‘ how to apply ' information.

Visit Colchester Campus

Set within 200 acres of  award-winning  parkland - Wivenhoe Park  and located two miles from the  historic city centre of Colchester – England's oldest recorded development. Our Colchester Campus is also easily reached from London and Stansted Airport in under one hour.

Virtual tours

If you live too far away to come to Essex (or have a busy lifestyle), no problem. Our 360 degree virtual tour allows you to explore the Colchester Campus from the comfort of your home. Check out our accommodation options, facilities and social spaces.

At Essex we pride ourselves on being a welcoming and inclusive student community. We offer a wide range of support to individuals and groups of student members who may have specific requirements, interests or responsibilities.

The University makes every effort to ensure that this information on its programme specification is accurate and up-to-date. Exceptionally it can be necessary to make changes, for example to courses, facilities or fees. Examples of such reasons might include, but are not limited to: strikes, other industrial action, staff illness, severe weather, fire, civil commotion, riot, invasion, terrorist attack or threat of terrorist attack (whether declared or not), natural disaster, restrictions imposed by government or public authorities, epidemic or pandemic disease, failure of public utilities or transport systems or the withdrawal/reduction of funding. Changes to courses may for example consist of variations to the content and method of delivery of programmes, courses and other services, to discontinue programmes, courses and other services and to merge or combine programmes or courses. The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will also keep students informed appropriately by updating our programme specifications . The University would inform and engage with you if your course was to be discontinued, and would provide you with options, where appropriate, in line with our Compensation and Refund Policy.

The full Procedures, Rules and Regulations of the University governing how it operates are set out in the Charter, Statutes and Ordinances and in the University Regulations, Policy and Procedures.

Related courses

• Colchester Campus

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Phonetics and Phonology Integrated PhD

Our iPhD is for students who wish to develop an advanced theoretical and experimental grounding in phonetics and phonology.

You are currently viewing course information for entry year:

Start date(s):

• September 2024

The focus of this iPhD is the application of phonetics and phonology in:

• first and second language acquisition
• sociolinguistics
• speech science
• language patterning

The Phonetics and Phonology integrated PhD has a large taught and assessed component as well as a supervised research element. The foundation is a common core of modules dealing with essential theoretical issues and research methods. You are also offered specialised modules which act as the basis for your thesis.

You'll have an individual course of study based on your needs and the sponsor's requirements.

One of the strengths of the course is that it brings together the teaching and research expertise of staff belonging to the Phonetics and Phonology Research Group . This group is composed of students and staff working in phonetics and phonology across three of our academic schools:

• School of Education, Communication, and Language Sciences (ECLS)
• School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics (SELLL)
• School of Modern Languages (SML)

This widens the pool of modules that are available. It enables you to interact with staff and students from a wide variety of backgrounds and expertise. Our particular areas of strength are in:

• phonetics and phonology in first/second language acquisition and bilingualism
• sociophonetic perspectives on speech perception and production
• role of voice quality in speech processing
• laboratory phonology and links between phonetics and phonology
• phonetic and phonological characteristics of languages and language description in segmental and suprasegmental aspects
• prosody and timing in the world's languages
• neurocognition of speech and language processing with focus on phonetics, phonology, and prosody

The cross-cutting theme within these areas that we are all interested in is the link between:

Our perception research looks at the role of speakers and listeners in shaping linguistic systems and sound change.

Work on production and learning covers our interest in investigating meaningful sound patterning. This includes:

• how it's acquired
• produced within a social context

Our work also investigates categorical and graded aspects of speech and the role of language-specific factors in shaping these categories.

Important information

We've highlighted important information about your course. Please take note of any deadlines.

Please rest assured we make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the programmes, services and facilities described. However, it may be necessary to make changes due to significant disruption, for example in response to Covid-19.

View our  Academic experience page , which gives information about your Newcastle University study experience for the academic year 2023-24.

See our  terms and conditions and student complaints information , which gives details of circumstances that may lead to changes to programmes, modules or University services.

Related courses

What you'll learn.

In year one you'll take 6 core modules. You'll also be able to select one optional module from one of the following areas:

• language development
• second language acquisition

You will study modules on this course. A module is a unit of a course with its own approved aims and outcomes and assessment methods.

Module information is intended to provide an example of what you will study.

Our teaching is informed by research. Course content changes periodically to reflect developments in the discipline, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback.

Full details of the modules on offer will be published through the Programme Regulations and Specifications ahead of each academic year. This usually happens in May.

Optional modules availability

Some courses have optional modules. Student demand for optional modules may affect availability.

To find out more please see our terms and conditions .

How you'll learn

The iPhD is structured over four years, full time. A typical course consists of:

• taught stage (year one) - you'll take six core modules
• research stage (years two, three and four) - you'll undertake a supervised research project within our areas of specialisation

Depending on your modules, you'll be assessed through a combination of:

• Computer assessment
• Lab exercise
• Professional skills assessments
• Oral examination
• Oral presentation
• Performance
• Practical lab report
• Reflective log
• Research proposal
• Research paper
• Written exercise

The research element is assessed through a thesis of 80,000 words.

Our mission is to help you:

• stay healthy, positive and feeling well
• overcome any challenges you may face during your degree – academic or personal
• get the most out of your postgraduate research experience
• carry out admin and activities essential to progressing through your degree
• understand postgraduate research processes, standards and rules

We can offer you tailored wellbeing support, courses and activities.

You can also access a broad range of workshops covering:

• research and professional skills
• careers support
• health and safety
• public engagement
• academic development

The core supervisory team in theoretical and experimental phonetics and phonology includes colleagues from:

Speech and Language Sciences

• Professor Ghada Khattab
• Dr Laurence White

School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics

• Dr Rory Turnbull

School of Modern Languages

• Dr Damien Hall

Biosciences Institute in the Medical School

• Dr Kai Alter

Your development

Research skills.

When you reach the research stage, you are encouraged to become a member of the British Association of Academic Phoneticians (BAAP) . This is the professional organisation for phoneticians in Britain.

Its members are involved in research in:

• teaching phonetics in higher education
• the application of phonetic knowledge in areas such as speech and language therapy, speech technology and forensic science

The Association holds a Colloquium every two years. This provides an opportunity for members and invited participants to:

• present their research
• discuss issues of concern to the academic community

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) researcher development programme 

Each faculty offers a researcher development programme for its postgraduate research students. We have designed your programme to help you:

• perform better as a researcher
• boost your career prospects
• broaden your impact

Through workshops and activities, it will build your transferable skills and increase your confidence.

You’ll cover:

• techniques for effective research
• methods for better collaborative working
• essential professional standards and requirements

Your researcher development programme is flexible. You can adapt it to meet your changing needs as you progress through your doctorate.

Find out more about the Researcher Education and Development programme

Your future

Graduate destinations.

Recent graduates of phonetics and phonology at Newcastle University have worked on a variety of languages and dialects, including:

• Arabic (a range of dialects)

Our graduates go on to work in:

• academic institutions across the world
• public and private institutions specialising in health sciences, media and communication, speech technology and forensic science

Our Careers Service

Our award-winning Careers Service is one of the largest and best in the country, and we have strong links with employers. We provide an extensive range of opportunities to all students through our ncl+ initiative.

Visit our Careers Service website

Quality and ranking

All professional accreditations are reviewed regularly by their professional body

From 1 January 2021 there is an update to the way professional qualifications are recognised by countries outside of the UK

Check the government’s website for more information .

The Phonetics Lab forms part of Newcastle's linguistics laboratory that received recent funding from the UKRI World-Class Science Laboratories (c.80K for improvements and new purchases of equipment and software). This is one of the UK's largest groupings of speech and language specialists. Alongside standard acoustic analysis software and high-quality recording equipment, our facilities include:

• ultrasound tongue imaging (UTI) (fixed and portable)
• electropalatography (EPG)
• nasometry and airflow measures
• electroglottography (EGG) (fixed and portable)
• eye-tracking
• Electroencephalography (EEG)

This provides the means of undertaking a wide range of acoustic, articulatory and perceptual investigations.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees for 2024 entry (per year), home fees for research degree students.

For 2024-25 entry, we will be aligning our standard Home research fees with those set by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) . The standard fee will be confirmed in Spring 2024 by UKRI. The Home tuition fees for this course will be updated after this confirmation. 

If your studies last longer than one year, your tuition fee may increase in line with inflation.

Depending on your residency history, if you’re a student from the EU, other EEA or a Swiss national, with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you’ll normally pay the ‘Home’ tuition fee rate and may be eligible for Student Finance England support.

EU students without settled or pre-settled status will normally be charged fees at the ‘International’ rate and will not be eligible for Student Finance England support.

If you are unsure of your fee status, check out the latest guidance here .

Scholarships

We support our EU and international students by providing a generous range of Vice-Chancellor's automatic and merit-based scholarships. See  our   searchable postgraduate funding page  for more information.  

What you're paying for

Tuition fees include the costs of:

• matriculation
• registration
• tuition (or supervision)
• library access
• examination
• re-examination

Find out more about:

• living costs
• tuition fees

If you are an international student or a student from the EU, EEA or Switzerland and you need a visa to study in the UK, you may have to pay a deposit.

You can check this in the How to apply section .

If you're applying for funding, always check the funding application deadline. This deadline may be earlier than the application deadline for your course.

For some funding schemes, you need to have received an offer of a place on a course before you can apply for the funding.

Search for funding

Find funding available for your course

Entry requirements

The entrance requirements below apply to 2024 entry.

Qualifications from outside the UK

English language requirements, admissions policy.

This policy applies to all undergraduate and postgraduate admissions at Newcastle University. It is intended to provide information about our admissions policies and procedures to applicants and potential applicants, to their advisors and family members, and to staff of the University.

Download our admissions policy (PDF: 201KB) Other policies related to admissions

Credit transfer and Recognition of Prior Learning

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) can allow you to convert existing relevant university-level knowledge, skills and experience into credits towards a qualification. Find out more about the RPL policy which may apply to this course

• How to apply

Using the application portal

The application portal has instructions to guide you through your application. It will tell you what documents you need and how to upload them.

You can choose to start your application, save your details and come back to complete it later.

If you’re ready, you can select Apply Online and you’ll be taken directly to the application portal.

Alternatively you can find out more about applying on our applications and offers pages .

Open days and events

You'll have a number of opportunities to meet us throughout the year including:

• campus tours
• on-campus open days
• virtual open days

Find out about how you can visit Newcastle in person and virtually

Overseas events

We regularly travel overseas to meet with students interested in studying at Newcastle University.

Visit our events calendar for the latest events

• Get in touch

Questions about this course?

If you have specific questions about this course you can contact:

Frances Cook PGR Programme Secretary The School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 6569 Email: [email protected]

For more general enquiries you could also complete our online enquiry form.

Fill in our enquiry form

Our Ncl chatbot might be able to give you an answer straight away. If not, it’ll direct you to someone who can help.

You'll find our Ncl chatbot in the bottom right of this page.

Keep updated

We regularly send email updates and extra information about the University.

Receive regular updates by email

Chat to a student

Chat online with current students with our Unibuddy platform.

Social media

Get involved with The School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences social media.

• What You'll Learn
• How You'll Learn
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• Your Future
• Quality and Ranking
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• Entry Requirements
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• Utility Menu

Department of Linguistics

Ph.d. program.

The main components of the Linguistics Ph.D. program are as follows:

• Course Requirements
• Language Requirement
• Generals Papers
• Dissertation
• Extra Funding Availability

All requirements, including two generals papers, should ideally be completed by the end of the third year, but in no case later than the end of the fourth. The dissertation prospectus is due on October 15 of the fall term of the fourth year. Failure to meet program requirements in a timely fashion may result in termination of candidacy. 

First-year students are advised by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) until they select a major field from the regular departmental faculty. Thereafter, progress toward completion of the Ph.D. requirements continues to be monitored by the DGS, but primary responsibility for overseeing study shifts to the major advisor. Students are free to change their major advisor at any time. By the end of the second year they should also select a co-advisor, who serves as a secondary advisor and faculty mentor.

Harvard Linguistics Graduate Student Handbook

Progress to the Degree (updated 7/1/2015)

A B+ average must be maintained in each year of graduate study. Grades below B- cannot be counted toward departmental requirements; two grades below B- in required courses will result in termination of candidacy. Ordinarily, a grade of Incomplete can only be converted into a letter grade if the work is made up before the end of the following term. No grade of Incomplete can be used to satisfy a departmental requirement.   No two programs of study are alike, but students should typically plan to complete the requirements for the degree according to the timetable below. Departures from this schedule must be approved by the main advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies.   Years G1 and G2: Course requirements are satisfied. By the end of the G2 year, the first generals paper should be well underway.   Year G3: Teaching duties begin. The first generals paper should be defended before the end of the fall term, and the second generals paper by the end of the spring term.   Year G4: Teaching duties continue. A thesis prospectus, naming a dissertation committee, is due on October 15 of the fall term; the committee must be chaired or co-chaired by a member of the Department of Linguistics and must include at least two members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Dissertation Completion Fellowship applications are due at midyear.   Year G5: The thesis is completed and defended in the spring.

A.M. Degree  (updated 7/1/2015)

Graduate students who have completed two years of residence, who have fulfilled all the course requirements and language requirements for the Ph.D., and who have successfully defended one Generals paper, are eligible to petition for a Master’s (A.M.) degree.  

Note that there is no master’s program in Linguistics.                     

• Courses 2023-24 AND Fall 2024
• Undergraduate
• Generals Papers (updated 7/1/2015)
• Extra Funding
• Secondary Fields
• Recent Dissertation Titles
• Financial Aid

Course Descriptions

Full course descriptions, fall 2024 courses are subject to change, fall 2024 courses, fall 2024 course schedule, fall 2024 asl course schedule, fall 2023 courses, fall 2023 course schedule, spring 2024 courses, spring 2024 course schedule, american sign language (asl) at harvard.

Department of Cognitive Science

• Linguistics at JHU

• Approaches and Methods
• Empirical Domains

At Johns Hopkins University, linguistics is fully integrated into the Department of Cognitive Science. Our research focuses on integrating formal linguistics within a broader cognitive science perspective by addressing questions about the nature of linguistic representations themselves, their processing, the architecture and learnability of the grammar, the implementation of linguistic theories in terms of neural computations, and language acquisition in the broader context of cognitive development.

The department offers basic and advanced undergraduate and graduate training covering all core areas including:

• Phonetics and phonology
• Semantics and pragmatics
• Psycholinguistics
• Acquisition

Linguistics Faculty

• Barbara Landau : language acquisition, language and thought, cognitive neuropsychology of language
• Geraldine Legendre : syntax, acquisition of L1 (morpho)-syntax, architecture of the grammar
• Kyle Rawlins : semantics/pragmatics, mathematical and computational linguistics
• Paul Smolensky : phonology, grammar in neural networks, formal foundations of cognitive science
• Colin Wilson : phonology, phonetics, statistical language learning, L2 speech perception and production
• Julia Yarmolinskaya : perception and acquisition of second language phonology

Faculty With Language-related Interests

• Mike McCloskey : representation and processing of written and spoken words, cognitive neuropsychology of language
• Brenda Rapp : representation and processing of written and spoken words, cognitive neuropsychology of language

Non-Departmental Faculty

Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences

• Susan Courtney : working memory
• Marina Bedny : brain development and plasticity, cognitive neuroscience, concepts
• Lisa Feigenson : cognitive development in infancy, working memory, knowledge of number
• Justin Halberda : logical reasoning in children, visuo-spatial representation, knowledge of number

Center for Language & Speech Processing

• Mark Drezde : natural language processing (NLP)
• Jason Eisner : computational linguistics, NLP
• Hynek Hermansky : automatic speech recognition, speech production and perception
• Sanjeev Khudanpur : automatic speech recognition, NLP, machine translation)
• Benjamin Van Durme : computational semantics
• David Yarowsky : NLP, machine translation, machine learning

Undergraduate Training in Linguistics

Undergraduate students may select linguistics as one of two foci for their  BA in cognitive science , or add a  minor in linguistics  to another degree. A significant number of BA recipients have gone on to pursue graduate studies in formal linguistics in top departments around the country.

Graduate Training in Linguistics

Doctoral graduate training includes a rotation in two labs/groups covering multiple methodologies in cognitive science (e.g., theory and experiments, experiments and computation), and typically multiple empirical domains, coursework in formal methods, and coursework in a sub-discipline (e.g., linguistics, cognitive psychology).

All graduate student research on linguistic problems benefits from solid training in linguistic theory and analysis combined with a broad background in cognitive science. Among the language-focused faculty are linguists as well as cognitive psychologists and computer scientists who share a broad intellectual vision of the study of the mind.

Historical Perspective on Generative Linguistics

Since Noam Chomsky’s proposal in the 1950s that the object of study in linguistics is a uniquely human mental capacity, linguistics has been one of the core disciplines of cognitive science.

Generative/formal linguistics has focused on uncovering the nature of representations and general principles underlying linguistic behavior at distinct levels of structure (e.g., phonology, syntax, semantics), and has attempted to understand what type of knowledge and predispositions children are born with in order to successfully learn their first language.

Formal linguistics has been quite successful at discovering the nature of linguistic representations and accounting for the complexity of linguistic knowledge. Viewing language in the broader context of cognitive science brings to light many important questions that traditional types of data and methods do not fully address: Does linguistic cognition share key computational properties with other cognitive domains? What is the nature of the algorithm that makes real-time language comprehension and production possible? How is linguistic computation implemented in the brain?

We are now at the beginning of an exciting era in which the traditional analysis of linguistic representation and computation is being integrated with other research areas and methods in an effort to answer such questions. Formal linguistics remains an active and fruitful research area, one that will realize its full potential by contributing to the broader goals of cognitive science.

Oxford University Press's Academic Insights for the Thinking World

Why decolonization and inclusion matter in linguistics?

Decolonizing Linguistics

Decolonizing Linguistics is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. It is free to read at Oxford Academic and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

• By Anne H. Charity Hudley , Christine Mallinson , and Mary Buchlotz
• March 27 th 2024

As sociolinguists, we have centered social justice in our research, teaching, and administrative work for many years. But as with many other academics, this issue took on renewed collective urgency for us in the context of the events of 2020, from toxic politics and policies at the federal level, to state-sanctioned anti-Black violence and the ensuing racial reckoning, to the Covid-19 pandemic and the many inequities it exposed and heightened.

Troubled by the often-misinformed efforts to make institutional change that we saw around us, we wanted to take action that was both specific to our disciplinary context and wide-reaching in its effects. We started with an article in the flagship linguistics journal, Language , calling for the centering of racial justice within the discipline. That article was the lead piece in the journal’s Perspectives section and was accompanied by a range of responses from linguists worldwide, which we responded to in turn.

We wrote with the hope that institutional change could start from the individual and (especially) collective actions of linguists. We were also motivated by the hope that the discipline our students will enter will be radically different from the one that we have spent our careers within. This hope fueled our work for the next several years, as we collaborated with linguists within and beyond linguistics departments and throughout the academy to create concrete, specific, and action-centered models for how to do the work necessary to transform the discipline. The results of this intensive collaborative process are two companion volumes, Decolonizing Linguistics and Inclusion in Linguistics , and their websites, which provide additional information and resources. 

Some linguists, particularly those for whom linguistics is structured and whom it best serves, may be asking themselves, “What’s so bad about linguistics in its current form?” Many linguists we interacted with as we embarked on this project were defensive, baffled, or even outright hostile. Fortunately, many others were curious and eager to learn how the discipline could do better and what they could do to help. Most importantly, the people for whom we do this work—those who have been made to feel unwelcome in linguistics and who have been shut out, pushed out, or relegated to the disciplinary margins, as well as those who have succeeded despite rather than because of linguistics-as-usual—understood and welcomed our project. Many of these current, former, and would-be linguists have been engaged in like-minded efforts of their own.

Some critics see our work as “politicizing” linguistics. But these commenters miss the point that linguistics (and academia) has always been political. The discipline has its roots in empire and the colonizing practices of categorizing and classifying languages in order to control those who use them. As the discipline has taken shape over the centuries to the present day, linguistics has become a field limited by its own exclusionary practices and ideologies—a field that, in our view, is simply too small. In Decolonizing Linguistics and Inclusion in Linguistics , we envision and work to build a linguistics that is capacious and welcoming, particularly to those whose lived experiences give them fresh and much-needed insights into the kinds of questions linguistics should be asking, the kinds of methods it should be using, and the kinds of real-world impacts it should be making.

Inclusion in linguistics

Most linguists are familiar with the concept of inclusion through institutional discourse in academia and elsewhere, particularly the acronym DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) or its many variants. Too often, however, inclusion is used to mean recruiting members of formerly excluded groups into often hostile institutions, without making significant changes to the workings of the institutions themselves. True inclusion is not a matter of making space within existing institutions for new people to do the same old thing. Instead, true inclusion requires the transformation not only of who is in institutional spaces but what they do, how, and why. Transformation demands that we ask ourselves who is and isn’t present in linguistics, whether they have full and equitable access, and whether the community of linguists will value their full humanity, rather than treating them merely as sources of linguistic data or as token representatives and spokespersons for the groups to which they belong.

Inclusion in Linguistics offers abundant examples of how linguists can and already are creating genuine inclusion within the discipline. The authors challenge limited notions of who gets to be included, calling attention to a wide range of groups who remain marginalized on the basis of race and ethnicity, gender identity, disability, geography, language, class and caste, and more. The authors issue a powerful call for a linguistics that does not simply make space for but purposefully centers those who have been excluded. We collectively urge linguists to think bigger, to abandon long-cherished ideological investments in what is and isn’t legitimate within linguistics, and to build a discipline that doesn’t hide in the ivory tower but engages with the world and makes it a better place.

Decolonizing linguistics

Compared to inclusion, decolonization may be a less familiar concept to many linguists. Some academics in the US may have first encountered the idea, along with related concepts like settler colonialism, through student activism on their campus in recent years and months. (In fact, the New York Times recently published an explainer on the term settler colonialism , assuming—no doubt correctly—that its predominantly white, liberal, and highly educated readership is not well versed in decolonial theory and activism.)

We chose the title Decolonizing Linguistics to invoke the long and ongoing history of linguists’ global academic exploitation of Black and Indigenous people and the discipline-based extraction of their languages for professional and economic gain. Contributors identify some of the forms of colonialism that linguistics has taken and continues to take. We emphasize the importance of Black-centered and Indigenous epistemologies and methodologies in undoing colonizing structures. We also highlight community-driven collaborative projects that provide a comprehensive picture of the powerful social and scholarly impacts of an unsettled, decolonized linguistics.

Both volumes offer specific roadmaps and pathways for how to advance social justice, through programs, partnerships, curricula, and other initiatives. Our work is a necessary first step toward institutional and disciplinary change: a linguistics built by, around, and for groups that have confronted colonization, oppression, and exclusion—that is, precisely the people whose languages so often fascinate linguists—is also a linguistics that prioritizes the new ideas and practices that these groups bring to the discipline and recognizes these new directions as precisely where linguistics needs to go.

We do not consider Inclusion in Linguistics and Decolonizing Linguistics as definitive statements but rather as an invitation for others to join us in ongoing conversations. We invite linguistics scholars and students, educators and higher education leaders, around the world to engage with the ideas in both volumes with an eye toward what you can do in your own local context, what we have inevitably left out, and how you might build on, adapt, and push us forward to create the kind of inclusive, decolonized, and socially just linguistics that you would like to be part of.

Featured image by Fons Heijnsbroek, abstract-art via Unsplash .

Anne H. Charity Hudley is Associate Dean of Educational Affairs, Stanford Graduate School of Education, the Bonnie Katz Tenenbaum Professor of Education and Professor of African and African American Studies & Linguistics, by courtesy. She is also director of the Stanford Black Academic Development Lab.

Christine Mallinson is the 2023-24 Lipitz Distinguished Professor of the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Professor in the Language, Literacy, and Culture Program, and Affiliate Professor in the Department of Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies, where she is also Director of the Center for Social Science Scholarship and Special Assistant for Research & Creative Achievement in the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Mary Bucholtz is Professor in Department of Linguistics and Director of the Center for California Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she is also affiliated with the Departments of Anthropology, Education, Feminist Studies, and Spanish and Portuguese as well as the Programs in Latin American and Iberian Studies and in Comparative Literature.

• Arts & Humanities
• Linguistics

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