Graduate School Bulletin

Description of the Linguistics Department

The Stony Brook Linguistics Department, in the College of Arts and Sciences, is a leading center for research and training in all areas of modern linguistics. The Department offers graduate training that leads to the M.A. and Ph.D. in Linguistics, the M.A. in Computational Linguistics, and the M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).

The department has a long-standing focus on theoretical linguistics, with core research areas in syntax, semantics, morphology, phonology, phonetics, and language acquisition, and particular strength in Computational Linguistics. Departmental research includes both theoretical issues --- how the human language capacity is organized --- and computational ones -- how language is processed and computed by humans and what the computational complexity of natural language is. In addition to the full range of theoretical and computational areas of linguistics, faculty have expertise in a wide range of languages/language areas including, East Asian, Germanic, Romance, Semitic, Slavic and signed languages.

The Ph.D. program prepares students for advanced research in all branches of theoretical linguistics, especially Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics and Computational Linguistics. Ph.D. students also work with students and faculty in Psychology, Computer Science, Philosophy, Music, and the Institute for Advanced Computational Science (IACS). Ph.D students assist in and/or teach MA and BA courses in Linguistics.

The M.A. in Theoretical Linguistics is a stand-alone 30 credit degree in all core areas of linguistic theory designed to give students an opportunity to carry out graduate work in linguistics in preparation for a doctoral degree in Linguistics, or other career.

The M.A. in Computational Linguistics focuses on core competencies in programming, algorithms and data structures, mathematical linguistics, linguistic theories of sound and grammar) and the computational analysis of natural language. Students will also have practical experience with existing software solutions and toolkits that are widely used in the Computational Linguistics industry.

The M.A. in TESOL is designed to prepare students to become professional teachers, teacher educators, and curriculum designers. The program offers courses in theoretical linguistics and its applications as well as pedagogy. Graduates of the program are successfully employed in public and private schools at K-12 levels, colleges, and universities in the United States and abroad. The requirements of the M.A. TESOL program satisfy a substantial portion of the requirements for New York State certification in TESOL.