Graduate Program
The graduate program of the UC San Diego Linguistics Department combines thorough training in theoretical linguistics and formal analysis with innovative experimental approaches to the study of human language. Our graduate students also participate in interdisciplinary collaborations with researchers in related fields like cognitive science, computer science, and psychology.
Theoretical work in the Department is marked by extensive collaboration among adherents of different approaches, creating an atmosphere in which the mechanical details of theories are not allowed to obscure their substantive results and points of convergence. Much of this work concerns 'interface phenomena': areas of language that crucially involve the interaction of two or more levels of traditional linguistic analysis, such as syntax/information structure, syntax/processing, or phonology/phonetics.
Experimental work in the Department encompasses a wide spectrum of areas and techniques, including phonetics, signed languages, psycholinguistics, event-related brain potentials (ERPs), and computational modeling. Computational linguistics is also a major focus of research and training. These areas of activity reflect the Department's commitment to cognitively realistic analyses of language structure. With its instructional and research program, the Department is actively working toward a synthesis of the basic insights and findings of diverse theoretical and experimental perspectives.
All research and instruction is grounded in the Department's long-standing tradition of work on a typologically diverse range of languages. Recent faculty research encompasses American Sign Language (ASL), Quebec Sign Language (LSQ), Chinese, Finno-Ugric, German, Japanese, Niger-Congo, Romance, Semitic, Russian, and Uto-Aztecan. All students are given training in linguistic field methods, which involves working with a native speaker of a language that has received little attention in the linguistics literature. Languages researched in recent field methods courses include GiTonga, Somali, Moro and Vietnamese.