Applicable only to students admitted during the 2024-2025 academic year.

Linguistics

College of Letters and Science

Graduate Degrees

The Department of Linguistics offers the Master of Arts (M.A.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Linguistics.

The program as a whole is intended to lead to a Ph.D. degree, and admits only applicants who have this goal. Internally, however, the program consists of two stages, an M.A. stage and a Ph.D. stage. To receive the Ph.D. students must complete the requirements of both stages.

Admissions Requirements

Master’s Degree

Advising

For the majority of the first year, the adviser for all students is the department’s Director of Graduate Studies. First-year students enrolled under either the Capstone Plan or Thesis Plan are required to nominate a Summer Guidance Advisor for the summer after their first year by Week 8 of their third quarter (Year 1 Spring quarter). Second-year students are required to nominate an MA chair by Week 8 of their fourth quarter (Year 2 Fall quarter), and the rest of their MA committee by Week 2 of their fifth quarter (Year 2 Winter quarter). The MA committee composition is subject to the agreement of the committee members and approval of the Department Chair or their delegate.

The student’s adviser is responsible for approving a quarterly Study List submitted to the department, and more generally for guiding the student’s academic progress. Students may have two co-advisers instead of one adviser, either of who may sign the study list.

First-year students are evaluated by the faculty for satisfactory performance at the beginning of Spring Quarter, and are notified of the results of the evaluation. They may be evaluated again at the end of Spring Quarter, at the department’s discretion. All other students undergo an annual evaluation at the end of the academic year, and are notified of the results.

Areas of Study

Consult the department.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

The master’s degree requires the completion, with a B average or better, of nine courses (36 units) in linguistics. All students are required to take Linguistics 200A, 200B, 200C and two of 201A, 201B, 201C.  Students also must take one course chosen from Linguistics 204C, 209A, 213A, 213B, 213C, 217, or 236. The remaining three courses must be chosen from Linguistics 201A, 201B, 201C, 202 through 209C, 211 through 216, 218, 219, 239, 244, 104, 111 or 140. All second-year students must take Linguistics 444.

The following undergraduate courses or the equivalent are prerequisite to graduate courses in the corresponding areas: Linguistics 103, 110, 120A, and 120B. Linguistics 103, or an examination in practical phonetics, must be completed with a grade of B or better as a prerequisite to Linguistics 210A, a required course for the doctoral degree that may be taken at the master’s stage of the program.

A student may petition to apply up to a maximum of two courses toward the master’s degree that were completed with grades of B or better at institutions outside the University of California and not used toward another degree.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Field Experience

Not required.

Capstone Plan

The department’s capstone plan exists in two forms, one with an oral examination requirement, and one with a writing requirement.

Oral Examination Requirement. This version of the Capstone Plan is available to three classes of students: (1) undergraduates who are enrolled for an M.A. degree in the Department Scholar Program; (2) graduate students who have not already received a linguistics M.A. degree elsewhere, and have chosen not to continue in the graduate program past the M.A. level; (3) graduate students who have not already received a linguistics M.A. degree elsewhere, and, by faculty vote, will not be permitted to continue beyond the M.A. level.

To receive the degree under the Oral Examination Requirement version of the Capstone Plan, students must satisfy the course requirements for the M.A. degree, and must in addition pass an oral examination, general in scope, one hour in length, and administered by a committee of three faculty appointed by the Department Chair or his/her delegate. In addition, M.A. students under the Capstone Plan must file a Petition for Advancement to Candidacy form by the third week of the quarter during which they expect to receive the degree.

Writing requirement. This version of the Capstone Plan is available to all graduate students who are in the M.A. stage of the program. To satisfy the requirements of this plan, students must complete all required M.A. level course work, and must also complete a substantial research paper. This paper is written under the direction of a committee of three faculty which is appointed by the Department Chair in consultation with the student. The committee shall consist of a chair, or two co-chairs, plus additional members to make a total of three. The M.A. paper should demonstrate the student’s ability to perform original, independent research.

The M.A. paper is evaluated as either Acceptable or Unacceptable; an Acceptable paper is required in order to satisfy the requirements of the Writing Requirement version of the Capstone Plan. In addition, the quality of the M.A. paper is a key element in the faculty’s decision whether to advance the student into the Ph.D. stage of the program; see “Doctoral Degree” below.

The normal deadline for the M.A. paper is as follows. Copies of the paper, complete and clearly legible but not necessarily in final form, must be given to the committee and the Student Affairs Officer at least two weeks before the last day of classes of the sixth quarter in the program. M.A. students must file a Petition for Advancement to Candidacy form early in the quarter during which they expect to receive the degree.

M.A. students under either version of the Capstone Plan must file a Petition for Advancement to Candidacy form early in the quarter during which they expect to receive the degree.

Thesis Plan

Every master’s degree thesis plan requires the completion of an approved thesis that demonstrates the student’s ability to perform original, independent research.

The Thesis Plan is available to all graduate students who are in the M.A. stage of the program, but have not already received an M.A. in linguistics elsewhere. To satisfy the requirements of this plan, students must complete all required M.A. level course work, and must also complete an M.A thesis. This thesis is written under the direction of a committee of three faculty which is appointed by the Department Chair in consultation with the student. The committee shall consist of a chair, or two co-chairs, plus additional members to make a total of three. The M.A. thesis should demonstrate the student’s ability to perform original, independent research.

In addition, M.A. students under the Thesis Plan must file a Petition for Advancement to Candidacy form early in the quarter during which they expect to receive the degree.

The M.A. thesis is evaluated as either Acceptable or Unacceptable; an Acceptable thesis is required in order to receive an M.A. degree under the Thesis Plan. In addition, the quality of the M.A. thesis is a key element in the faculty’s decision whether to advance the student into the Ph.D. stage of the program; see “Doctoral Degree” below.

The normal deadline for the M.A. thesis is as follows. Copies of the thesis, complete and clearly legible but not necessarily in final form, must be given to the committee and the Student Affairs Officer at least two weeks before the last day of classes of the sixth quarter in the program. M.A. students must file a Petition for Advancement to Candidacy form early in the quarter during which they expect to receive the degree.

Time-to-Degree

Six quarters is considered the normative time to complete the M.A.-level portion of the program. The Department Chair or his/her delegate may authorize in advance one additional quarter of study in order complete experimental work or field work; as well as additional quarters to complete deficiency courses. Allowances to normative and maximum time-to-degree may be made to make up deficiencies due to approved Leaves of Absence.

A student who does not complete the M.A. stage of the program in seven quarters, excluding quarters needed to make up deficiencies and quarters of approved leave of absence, is subject to a recommendation for academic disqualification.

DEGREE	NORMATIVE TIME TO ATC (Quarters)	NORMATIVE TTD	MAXIMUM TTD
M.A.	5	6	7

Doctoral Degree

At the stage they have completed all of the requirements for the M.A. stage of the program, including an M.A. paper or thesis, students are considered by faculty for further advancement through the Ph.D. stage of the program. This vote will be based on consideration of the student’s entire record, including the M.A. paper or thesis. If this vote is negative, the student will be considered not to be making normative progress and will be recommended for dismissal. A student who completes the M.A. portion of the program but who is denied admission into the Ph.D. program will not be permitted to continue to register beyond the end of the academic year in which the M.A. degree is awarded.

Advising

Students are required to formally nominate a doctoral committee prior to the oral qualifying examination. The chair of the doctoral committee is the primary adviser at this stage, is the person responsible for signing the student’s quarterly Study List, and provides intellectual guidance and advice in the student’s area of interest. It is permitted for students to have two co-chairs, either of whom may sign the student’s Study List. Students are encouraged to consult the department’s director of graduate studies at any time and for any academic advice or purpose.

All students in the Ph.D. stage of the program undergo an annual evaluation at the end of the academic year, and are notified of the results.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

Students may specialize in syntax, semantics, phonology, phonetics, language change, typology, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, and many language areas, notably African languages and American Indian languages. Other specializations may be possible, depending on the availability of faculty expertise.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

All doctoral degree students must satisfy the requirements of the M.A. stage of the program, as described above. In addition, doctoral students must take 36 units of additional graduate course work, which must include Linguistics 210A, 210B, and eight units in an area distinct from that of the student’s major area of concentration. If Linguistic 210A and 210B have already been taken at the M.A. stage of the program, other courses must be taken to satisfy the 36-unit requirement. The 36 units may not include Linguistics 275 (colloquium), any 300- or 400-level course, 597, or 599. Of the 36 units, no more than 12 units may be in Linguistics 596A. A maximum of four two-unit seminars may be included in the 36 units. Normative time to complete these 36 units is by the end of the 10th quarter of graduate study.

In the tenth quarter of doctoral study, students are required to meet in a dissertation prospectus meeting with the appointed doctoral committee to discuss the topic of the dissertation research, and the background necessary to pursue it. A written prospectus of the dissertation is to be submitted to the doctoral committee, with a copy for the departmental file, at least one month prior to this meeting. Following the meeting, the doctoral committee is to report, via a departmental form, to the department that the filed prospectus is satisfactory, and that the student has completed the required 36 units of post-master’s course work.

Students who fail to provide an approved prospectus and/or complete the required 36 units of post-master’s course work by the end of the tenth quarter may be subject to academic disqualification, and may not be eligible for departmental teaching assistantships or fellowships.

At some point in time, some of the results of the student’s research must be presented at a meeting of the Department of Linguistics Colloquium. This presentation is a requirement for the degree.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass university written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations, the University Oral Qualifying Examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to university requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

All committee nominations and reconstitutions adhere to the Minimum Standards for Doctoral Committee Constitution.

In order to be advanced to candidacy, the student is required to prepare and submit one substantive research paper. Normally, this paper will be the M.A. thesis or M.A. paper written earlier during the M.A. stage of the program.

The University Oral Qualifying Examination is administered by the doctoral committee. Students must satisfactorily complete this examination and advance to candidacy no later than the tenth quarter of graduate study. This examination may coincide with the prospectus meeting.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy and awarded the Candidate in Philosophy (C.Phil.) degree upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations.

Doctoral Dissertation

Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student’s ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of Dissertation)

Required for all students in the program.

Time-to-Degree

Full-time students with no deficiencies upon admission to graduate study in the department should be able to complete requirements for the doctoral degree in 15 academic quarters (five calendar years). The normative time-to-degree cannot be changed, but allowances to normative and maximum time-to-degree may be made to make up for deficiencies due to approved leaves of absence. The maximum time limit for the doctoral degree from the first quarter of graduate study in the department is seven years.

In addition, there are departmental policies that link progress through the program to financial support. These policies are based on the normative times for advancement through the program, not on the absolute limits mentioned above.

DEGREE	NORMATIVE TIME TO ATC (Quarters)	NORMATIVE TTD	MAXIMUM TTD
Ph.D.	10	15	21

Academic Disqualification and Appeal of Disqualification

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for academic disqualification from graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing academic disqualification of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

A student who does not complete the M.A. degree in seven quarters, excluding quarters needed to make up deficiencies and quarters of approved leave of absence, is subject to a recommendation for academic disqualification. Any student who has not completed the M.A. degree in three years and one quarter is subject to a recommendation for academic disqualification. A student who completes the M.A. degree but who is denied admission into the Ph.D. program will not be permitted to continue to register beyond the end of the academic year in which the M.A. degree is awarded.