PhD Requirements

The doctoral program requires a minimum of 48 semester hours of graduate credit coursework in linguistics. This minimum requirement may include up to 30 hours of master's degree credit (including thesis). At least 18 hours must be coursework beyond the M.A. degree. In addition, the student must complete a minimum of 18 hours of Dissertation (Ling 699) credit.

Required Research Skills

  • reading, writing, and conversational ability in a language other than the student’s native language (this requirement may be fulfilled by four semesters of college language courses with a grade of "B" or better);
  • knowledge of the structure of a non-Indo-European language;
  • coursework in statistics up to and including analysis of variance or the equivalent.

Before advancing to candidacy, Ph.D. students are required to complete one qualifying paper and submit it to a refereed journal once it is approved by a committee of qualified faculty, and to prepare and present a dissertation prospectus.

Admission Requirements

Admission to the Ph.D. program is highly selective. Students applying to the Ph.D. may apply with either a bachelor's degree or a master's degree. The following criteria must be met:

  1. successful completion of coursework equivalent to the B.A. in Linguistics at UNM with an average of B+ or better;
  2. a completed research paper of publishable quality demonstrating ability to carry out independent research; and
  3. willingness of a member of the department faculty to serve as the student's initial mentor.

At least 24 credit hours must be completed at UNM, and at least 18 hours must be completed after admission to the doctoral program at UNM. A minimum of 18 hours exclusive of dissertation must be earned in UNM courses numbered 500 or above. No more than 50% of the required course credits may be taken with a single faculty member; coursework completed for the master's degree is included in this limit.

Required Courses

Please note: the requirements have recently changed. Students have the option of using the catalogue year from which they began the program, or the current catalogue year.

1. Phonetics/Phonology: Complete at least 1 of the following:

  • LING 502 - Current Approaches to Phonology (3)
  • LING 503 - Usage-based Phonology (3)

2. Discourse/Syntax: Complete at least 1 of the following:

  • LING 529 - Discourse Analysis (3)
  • LING 535 - Language Contact (3)

3. Semantics/Cognitive Linguistics: Complete at least 1 of the following:

  • LING 519 - Cognitive Linguistics (3)
  • LING 525 - Semantic Analysis (3)
  • LING 562 - Childhood Bilingualism (3)
  • LING 568 - Seminar in Psycholinguistics (3)

4. Typology/Field Linguistics: Complete at least 1 of the following:

  • LING 513 - Linguistics Field Methods (3)
  • LING 517 - Typology and Universals (3)
  • LING 548 - Grammaticization (3)

5. Sociolinguistics: Complete at least 1 of the following:

  • LING 533 - Sociolinguistic Variation (3)
  • LING 534 - Language and Gender (3)

A seminar on a relevant topic may be substituted for courses above with department approval.

6. Complete at least one methodology course (3 credits) appropriate to the field of specialization, e.g., 

  • LING 510 - Statistical Methods in Linguistics (3)
  • LING 513 - Field Methods (3)
  • LING 569L Experimental Psycholinguistics (3)

Sociophonetics (taught under varying course numbers) also satisfies the methodology requirement, as do some seminars taught under the 554 or 590 number (e.g., Experimental Phonetics). The course used for the methodology requirement can also be used for any of the other requirements, if appropriate.

7. Complete at least three advanced seminars (9 credits). Advanced linguistics courses not specifically designated as “seminars” can be used to satisfy this requirement; core courses in the Master’s program cannot be used to satisfy this requirement. Seminar courses include:

  • LING 554 - Seminar in Linguistic Theory (3) 
  • LING 562 - Childhood Bilingualism (3)
  • LING 568 - Seminar in Psycholinguistics (3)
  • LING 590 - Topics in Linguistics (3)

Advanced linguistics courses that can be used to satisfy this requirement (if they have not been used to satisfy requirements 1 - 6) include: Ling 510, Ling 511, Ling 513, Ling 515, Ling 517, Ling 519, Ling 548, Ling 560 and Ling 569.

8. Complete at least 21 credits of additional coursework:

Additional coursework to meet the minimum of 48 credit hours of graduate coursework. This may include up to 30 credit hours of appropriate courses from the M.A. but at least 18 credit hours must be work beyond the M.A. At least 24 credit hours must be completed at UNM and at least 18 credit hours must be at the 500- or 600-level.

9. Complete at least 18 credits of:

LING 699 - Dissertation (3 - 12)

 

A PhD in Linguistics with a concentration in Speech and Hearing Sciences is also available. The Linguistics Department also participates in the interdisciplinary PhD program in Educational Linguistics, housed in the College of Education.

More information can be found in the Graduate Student Manual.