Graduate Field
Linguistics
Program Description
The interests of the faculty cover a wide range of areas in theoretical and experimental linguistics. The field's graduate program covers all facets of linguistics, as well as an exceptionally broad spectrum of courses dealing with computational linguistics, field methods and historical linguistics. All graduate students in the field are enrolled in the Ph.D. program.
Research Facilities: The department offers state-of-the-art facilities for research in phonetics, including articulatory movement tracking, ultrasound, electroglottography, and speech aerodynamics. The phonetics lab is part of the Cornell Speech Imaging Group (SIG), a cross-disciplinary team of researchers using real-time magnetic resonance imaging to study the dynamics of speech articulation. The department also hosts a Computational Linguistics Lab which focuses on statistical parsing of large data samples, including grammar development, parameter estimation, and acquisition of lexical information from corpora. The Language Documentation Lab provides resources and laboratory space for research involving language documentation, description, and analysis, with an emphasis on understudied languages. The Interface Research Lab focuses on understanding the interfaces between phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.
Concentrations
- Computational linguistics (minor)
- East Asian linguistics (minor)
- English linguistics (minor)
- General linguistics
- Germanic linguistics (minor)
- Indo-European linguistics (minor)
- Phonetics (minor)
- Phonological theory (minor)
- Second language acquisition (minor)
- Semantics (minor)
- Slavic linguistics (minor)
- Southeast Asian Linguistics (minor)
- Syntactic theory (minor)
Program Information
- Instruction Mode: In Person
- Location: Ithaca, NY
- Minimum Credits for Degree: 85
Program Requirements
- Minimum Semesters for Degree: 8
Graduate School Milestones
- Responsible Conduct of Research Training: Required
- Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID): Required
- Student Progress Reviews (SPR) begin: Second Year
- Examination for admission to candidacy (A Exam): Spring of third year
- Defense of Dissertation (B Exam): Spring of fifth year
Field Specific Milestones
- Qualifying Examination (Q Exam): Spring of second year
- Field progress review conducted in the fourth year
- Comprehensive exams administered fall of fourth year
- Two semesters of teaching assistantship required
Course Requirements
Additional course requirements may be set by the student’s Special Committee. Program specific requirements that apply to all students are included below.
Year 1 (Fall)
Year 1 (Spring)
Year 2 (Fall)
Year 2 (Spring)
Before A Exam
University Graduation Requirements
Requirements for All Students
In order to receive a Cornell degree, a student must satisfy academic and non-academic requirements.
Academic Requirements
A student’s college determines degree requirements such as residency, number of credits, distribution of credits, and grade averages. It is the student’s responsibility to be aware of the specific major, degree, distribution, college, and graduation requirements for completing their chosen program of study. See the individual requirements listed by each college or school or contact the college registrar’s office for more information.
Non-academic Requirements
Conduct Matters. Students must satisfy any outstanding sanctions, penalties or remedies imposed or agreed to under the Student Code of Conduct (Code) or Policy 6.4. Where a formal complaint under the Code or Policy 6.4 is pending, the University will withhold awarding a degree otherwise earned until the adjudication process set forth in those procedures is complete, including the satisfaction of any sanctions, penalties or remedies imposed.
Financial Obligations. Outstanding financial obligations will not impact the awarding of a degree otherwise earned or a student’s ability to access their official transcript. However, the University may withhold issuing a diploma until any outstanding financial obligations owing to the University are satisfied.
