Degrees and Requirements
M.A. Program
The MA program provides a basic introduction to the subject matter and skills of the discipline.
Requirements
The department offers MA Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C programs. In addition to the University-wide residence requirements of a minimum of two semesters of full-time work, all three programs require that students demonstrate competence in one language other that their native language.
Plan A requires a thesis (12 credit hours) and a minimum of 18 credit hours of course work. A final oral examination covering the thesis and related areas is also required.
Plan B students must complete 30 credit hours of course work for a grade (not CR/NCR or Audit), of which 18 hours must be at the 600-level or above, including 3 hours of a 700-level seminar. Students may choose between three "streams": Linguistic Analysis, Language and Cognition, and Language Documentation and Conservation. For a list of courses required for each stream, see the MA manual and MA checklist. A final seminar presentation near the end of course work is required for students in the Linguistic Analysis and Language and Cognition streams. The topic and format of the presentation must be approved in advance by the graduate chair. Students in the Language Documentation and Conservation stream must submit a 'Research Portfolio' for approval.
Plan C requires two semesters of full-time course work in addition to a final examination with both written and oral portions. Plan C is open to select students who have had some previous work in linguistics and who show both high potential for scholarly development and the motivation and discipline necessary for an independent course study. A committee of faculty is appointed for each prospective student for Plan C. The committee administers a general examination during the student's first semester of study to determine the appropriateness of Plan C, advises the student in developing a program of study, and administers the oral portion of the final examination.
Click here to view the full MA manual and MA checklist.
Ph.D. Program
The PhD program provides full professional training for careers in research and teaching.
Requirements
All students in the PhD program are required to complete a minimum of 33 credit hours of course and seminar work at the University of Hawai`i (exclusive of LING 800) beyond those counted toward their MA degrees (or, for students not holding an MA, beyond the core courses specifically LING 410, 420, 421, 422, and 645). Courses in phonology (LING 621), grammar (LING 622), and methods are required of all PhD students. Methods courses include: LING 630 (field methods), LING 632 (Laboratory Research), LING 750F (phonetic fieldwork on endangered languages), and LING 750Q (Methods in Language Acquisition. Students interested in experimental research are strongly advised to take one or more courses in statistical analysis as well (e.g., EDEP 429, ESL 490 or 671).
PhD students must prepare two clearly and professionally written 'publication-quality' papers, pass a comprehensive examination, and pass a final oral examination in defense of their dissertation.
Click here for the full PhD manual and PhD checklist.
Exemption Exam Policy
There are 4 courses that are typically part of the MA core that students may wish to be exempted from. These are:
- Ling 410: Articulatory Phonetics
- Ling 420: Morphology
- Ling 421: Introduction to Phonological Analysis
- Ling 422: Introduction to Grammatical Analysis
Students who enter the Department with little or no background in linguistics are expected to take these courses. However, we will offer exemption exams for each of these courses during Registration Week, i.e., the week before classes start. If you wish to take one or more of these exams, you must notify the Department secretary no later than July 15 (for Fall) and December 1 (for Spring), stating which exams you are planning to take. The secretary will then notify you of the exact exam schedule. Exemption exams will be graded on a pass/fail basis. A pass will be awarded if the student’s background and exam performance indicate sufficient mastery of the course content. Exemption exams may be taken only once.