See also: the website for the Department of Linguistics
The Department is one of the leading Linguistics research departments in the UK (top-ranked in the last two national assessment exercises, REF 2014 and RAE 2008). The Department's research encompasses both the structure of language and its use within speech communities and different social contexts.
We have a lively programme of seminars, reading groups, PhD training workshops, and invited guest lectures. Graduate students also receive advanced training in research methodology and specific areas of linguistics from the department's own research training workshops and from advanced core training in linguistics. The Department also works closely with other linguistics in the School, who have specific interests in French, German and Hispanic languages.
Students have access to the major academic libraries and resources in London, in addition to our own study facilities. The Department has a purpose-built suite of linguistics laboratories and recording studio. The laboratory is fully stocked with state-of-the-art recording and transcribing equipment, a comprehensive range of public corpora and software for analysing language and dedicated workstations for graduate students and research fellows.
Our specific areas of interest are: syntax, semantics and morphology; prosody, tone and intonation; the structure of spoken language; psycholinguistics and experimental approaches; dialect syntax; and sociolinguistics including variationist, interactional and discourse-analytic approaches.
Current research projects include work on phi-theory, nominal and pronominal structure, definiteness, experimental morphosemantics, dialect retention and change, indexicality and speech perception, language and the media and urban youth language.
For entry at PhD level, we would normally expect candidates to have an MA or equivalent. The Linguistics Department attracts the very best PhD candidates, and competition for places and for funding is at the highest level. In order to determine whether our PhD Programme is the right fit for you, and what kind of supervision and financial awards might be appropriate for you, please visit our deparmental PhD pages and complete our Applicant Query Form. We will then contact you to advise the best course of action.
Please also refer to the How to apply section.
For international students, please refer to the International students section on this website.
For further information about the PhD in Linguistics, please contact:Linguistics PhD Admissionsemail: ling-phd-admit@qmul.ac.uk