Degree of Master of Arts

MA requirements and timeline

The MA is a non-thesis degree which requires three terms of course work, consisting of 8 approved 3-credit courses at the 500, 600 or 700 level, plus two MA research seminars (6 credits) and a research paper/project (15 credits). (Total = 45 credits; minimum load is 12 credits per term for the first 3 terms.)

Required courses (normally to be taken in MA1)

Note: Students with insufficient background in certain areas (such as logic or statistics) may be required to take certain undergraduate courses (e.g. PHIL 210 or PSYC 305) in addition to required graduate courses.

(n.b. Our 1st year MA and Ph.D. students take required courses together.)

First term (Fall):

LING 631 Phonology 3
LING 660 Semantics 3
LING 671 Syntax 3
3 other credits

Second term (Winter):

3 or 4 other courses. We encourage students to include one or more of the following:

LING 635 Phonology 4
LING 665 Semantics 4
LING 675 Syntax 4
LING 619 Experimental Foundations

Courses to be taken in MA2 (normally in the Fall)

Such other courses as are deemed relevant to the student's area of research. These courses will be decided upon in consultation with the student's advisor and the Graduate Program Director.

Students are encouraged to take at least one of the following, in MA1 or MA2:

LING 520 Sociolinguistics 2
LING 521 Dialectology
LING 555 Language Acquisition 2
LING 590 Lang. Acquisition & Breakdown
LING 650 Testing Theories in the Lab
LING 651 Topics in Acquis of Phonology
LING 655 Theory of L2 Acquisition
LING 690 Seminar in Neurolinguistics
LING 720 Advanced Seminar in Socioling
LING 755 Adv Sem: Language Acquisition
LING 790 Adv. Sem. In Neurolinguistics

Courses related to MA Paper/Project research:
LING 601 (MA Research Seminar 1) and LING 602 (MA Research Seminar 2)
LING 607 (MA Research Paper/Project)

Timeline and deadlines

We strongly encourage candidates to complete the MA within 20 months (i.e., 4 terms). It is, in fact, feasible to complete the degree within 16 months (i.e., 3 terms).