Required Meetings & Reports
Once admitted to the PhD program, meet with program faculty regularly to ensure progress on your degree requirements:
- Meet with your faculty advisor for planning at least once per quarter.
- Meet with the Linguistics GPC (Graduate Program Coordinator) to talk about your degree progress at least once per year. Contact linggpc@uw.edu to schedule a meeting.
Reporting Milestone Completion
Whenever you fulfill a degree requirement, you should submit a Linguistics PhD Status Update to inform the department of your progress. Individual course completion does not need to be reported, and is instead part of the Annual Progress Report.
Annual Progress Reports
The Annual Progress Report is your yearly update to the Department of Linguistics on your academic and scholarly progress and on the status of your external funding. This report helps the department know how to best connect you with resources and avoid assigning you assistantship work that conflicts with your course schedule.
- Deadline: You must submit the report between April 1st and May 15th every year. This deadline is important for disbursement of awards and funding.
- Requirements: You must submit the report as part of a meeting with your primary advisor. Either party may contact the GPC at linggpc@uw.edu for consultation or mediation at any time. Read more about what information is required on the Milestones page.
Submit a Linguistics PhD Status Update to finish your Annual Progress Report.
PhD in Linguistics Requirements
General Track and Computational Track
The PhD in Linguistics has two tracks: General Linguistics and Computational Linguistics. Most of the requirements are identical, but take note of the differences in their [1] Required Courses, [2] Language Requirement, and [3] Generals Papers Requirement.
Each year, one CLMS graduate is admitted into the PhD program, and these students most likely take the Computational Track. Read more about the CLMS to PhD Transition process.
1. Securing an Advisor
Your advising faculty member is your main resource for planning out your required coursework, research, papers, presentations, exams, and your long-term goals. Together you will consult the subdiscipline roadmaps and establish an individualized timeline for progress.
- Deadline: December 1st of your first year in the PhD program
- Requirements: You must have at least one primary faculty advisor in the Department of Linguistics. You must meet with your advisor(s) at least once per quarter for planning. Either you or your advisor may require that planning sessions include a written agreement. Approval for other milestones is not possible without at least one advisor.
- Selecting Advisors: Most students need only one advisor, but you may have a maximum of three, especially if doing cross-disciplinary work. Additional advisors may be from outside the Department of Linguistics or University of Washington. You may resubmit the Linguistics PhD Status Update anytime to change your advisors, or to change which advisor is the primary one in charge of your milestone approvals.
2. Required Courses
General Linguistics Track
Take one course in each of the following sub-disciplines (30 credits total):
- Syntax: LING 507 (Syntactic Theory I)
- Sociolinguistics: LING 532 (Sociolinguistics I)
- Language Processing and Development, one of the following courses:
- LING 541 (Language Processing and development I)
- LING 542 (Language Processing and development II)
- Phonetics: LING 550 (Introduction to Linguistic Phonetics)
- Phonology: LING 552 (Phonology II)
- Semantics, one of the following courses:
- LING 578 (Semantic Theory I)
- LING 579 (Semantic Theory II)
Computational Linguistics Track
Take the indicated number of courses in each of the following sub-disciplines (39-42 credits total):
- Syntax, two (2) of the following courses:
- LING 507 (Syntactic Theory I)
- LING 508 (Syntactic Theory II)
- LING 566 (Intro to Syntax for Computational Linguistics)
- Sociolinguistics, one (1) of the following courses:
- LING 532 (Sociolinguistics I)
- LING 533 (Topics and Methods in Sociolinguistic Theory)
- Phonetics/phonology, two (2) of the following courses:
- LING 550 (Intro to Linguistic Phonetics)
- LING 551 (Phonology I)
- LING 552 (Phonology II)
- LING 553 (Experimental Phonetics)
- Semantics, one (1) of the following courses:
- LING 578 (Semantic Theory I)
- LING 579 (Semantic Theory II)
- Computational Linguistics, three (3) of the following courses:
- LING 567 (Knowledge Engineering for Deep NLP)
- LING 570 (Shallow Processing Techniques for NLP)
- LING 571 (Deep Processing Techniques for NLP)
- LING 572 (Advanced Statistical Methods in NLP)
- LING 573 (NLP Systems and Applications)
Waiving required courses
If you have taken an equivalent course elsewhere, you can request that it be waived. The waiver needs to approved by the faculty in the relevant area and the GPC (Graduate Program Coordinator). Waiving a course does not reduce the total number of credits required to graduate set by the UW Graduate School, so you must replace it with other credit. Contact your advisor and the GPC at linggpc@uw.edu to submit your request.
3. Total Credits of Study
You must take additional credits as needed to reach a minimum of 90 credits, to be determined by specialization and consultation with the advisory committee. Of these 90 credits, a minimum of 27 will be LING 800 (Dissertation).
4. Language Requirement
All PhD students must complete study or a project in one spoken or signed natural language other than their native language. Read more on the Language Requirements page.
5. Generals Papers (GPs)
General Linguistics Track
You must author two (2) GPs in different areas. What counts as a different area is determined and approved by the student's supervisory committee. Each GP is usually worked on over the course of approximately 10 credits of LING 600 (Independent Study or Research).
Computational linguistics track
The requirement is the same for Computational Linguistics track students, but you may also use a Master’s thesis (10 credits of LING 700) completed as part of the CLMS program as one of the two GPs.
GP1 Presentation
You must give a short (10-minute) presentation of your first GP to the Department of Linguistics at the "GP Fest" colloquium session in late April / early May. This helps prepare you for more formal presentations in the future.
6. Securing a Supervisory Committee
Your supervisory committees is a collection of faculty members that ensure you are producing high-quality research and papers for publication. They approve completion of your Generals Papers, General Exam, Prospectus, Dissertation, and Final Exam.
Requirements: To complete your general exam, prospectus, final exam, and dissertation submission, you must have a supervisory committee of at least four faculty members. Approval for these milestones is not possible without a viable committee, and you should consult with them regularly.
- Selecting a supervisory committee. Thoroughly read UW Graduate School policy 4.2.2 (Supervisory Committee for Graduate Students > The Doctoral Supervisory Committee other than Practice Doctorates). The supervisory committee must consist of, at minimum:
- One or two committee chairs, who are usually the same faculty as your advisor(s).
- One GSR (Graduate School Representative) from a different department on-campus. The GSR ensures graduate school policy is followed and cannot have any actual or perceived conflicts of interest with you or your other committee members (shared research or funding relationships, etc.).
- Additional members as needed to reach a minimum of four members.
- Selecting a reading committee. Your reading committee is a subset of at least three members of your supervisory committee, usually excluding the GSR. The reading committee must consist of:
- One committee chair, who is usually one of your supervisory committee chairs.
- Two additional members from your supervisory committee.
- You may resubmit the Linguistics PhD Status Update anytime to change your committee members.
7. General Exam
You must pass an oral exam in which you present one or two GPs and answer questions about them asked by your supervisory committee. The general exam should include discussion of how the GP(s) will grow into the dissertation.
You have the option of defending just one main paper that is directly related to your Dissertation. Your supervisory committee decides, in consultation with you, whether you must defend both GPs or just one primary GP.
How to Schedule
You may schedule your exam on MyGrad only after the following conditions are met:
- Requirements. You must complete all previous degree requirements (1 through 6) before you schedule your General Exam. You do not yet need to have completed any of the later requirements (8 through 12).
- Credits. You must have at least 60 credits of your degree completed or in-progress by the quarter of your General Exam.
- GP Approval. Your committee must read and approve both of your Generals Papers, even if you are only defending one.
- Pre-exam Checklist. You must complete the appropriate pre-exam checklist in consultation with your advisor, then send it to phoneme@uw.edu for filing before scheduling your exam.
8. Colloquium/Conference Presentations
You must present two (2) papers at a colloquia or conferences. This can be any time and you do not need to wait until after you have finished your General Exam to get started on these.
9. Dissertation Prospectus
Within 6 months after your General Exam, you must present a formal dissertation proposal to your reading committee (a subset of your supervisory committee), along with a proposed timeline for completion of your dissertation.
10. Final Exam
In your final quarter, you must pass an final oral exam in which you present Dissertation and answer questions asked by your supervisory committee. You may schedule the exam only after your reading committee has read and approved your dissertation.
How to Schedule
You may schedule your exam on MyGrad only after the following conditions are met:
- Requirements. You must complete all previous degree requirements (1 through 9) before you schedule your Final Exam. You do not yet need to have completed step
- Credits. You must have at least 90 credits of your degree completed or in-progress by the quarter of your Final Exam.
- Dissertation Approval. Your reading committee must read and approve your Dissertation.
- Pre-exam Checklist. You must complete the appropriate pre-exam checklist in consultation with your advisor, then send it to phoneme@uw.edu for filing before scheduling your exam.
11. Dissertation Submission
You must complete your dissertation and then submit it for publication through the thesis/dissertation submission process.
- Deadline: You must submit your Dissertation by the last day of finals week (last Friday of the quarter) in the quarter you take your Final Exam.
- Extensions: You may get a 2-week extension without needing to register for the following quarter by requesting a Graduate Registration Waiver.
Master's Degrees in Linguistics
The Department of Linguistics does not offer admission into a standalone MA program, but admitted PhD students may earn an MA degree (General Track) or CLMS degree (Computational Track) on their way to earning a PhD. Please note that earning a master's degree is not required to move on to your PhD candidacy.
Requirements
Default Option
Completion of the two Generals Papers and the General Exam automatically constitute the capstone project necessary for a master’s degree.
Thesis Option
Alternatively, you may request your master's before completing your Generals Papers or General Exam if you have completed all of the following:
- All Required Courses for your track
- Language Requirement for your track
- Thesis: You may write a thesis under the supervision of a Linguistics faculty member, and then seek approval from a second faculty member reader. This work is normally completed through 10 credits of LING 700 (Thesis).
How to Request Master's Degree
First, discuss completion of the MA or CLMS degree with your advisor. Then, anytime after you have completed the requirements but before you earn your PhD, you may submit a Master's Degree Request to the UW Graduate School through MyGrad.
Graduate School Requirements
Degree Requirements
In addition to the departmental requirements for the PhD in Linguistics, you must also ensure that you complete the UW Graduate School's Graduate Degree Requirements.
If you have questions, contact the Graduate School (uwgrad@uw.edu), the Linguistics Graduate Program Coordinator (linggpc@uw.edu), or the chair of your supervisory committee.
Requesting Leave
All graduate students must either register for credit or take official leave in every non-summer quarter. On-leave status is automatic for summer quarters if you do not register.
The UW Graduate School interprets failure to register or take official leave as resignation from the program. If you do not register or take leave for a non-summer quarter, then you will instead need to request reinstatement for a future quarter, which is not guaranteed to be approved and requires a $250 reinstatement fee.
How to Request Leave
Follow these steps if you need to take academic leave in any non-summer quarter:
- Consult with your advisor.
- Drop all credits before the first day of the quarter: If you are registered at any point on or after the first day of the quarter then you are considered enrolled and will lose one quarter of guaranteed departmental funding.
- Submit a Linguistics PhD Status Update no later than the last day of instruction (second-to-last Friday of the quarter). This helps us maintain our records for how many quarters of guaranteed funding you have remaining.
- Request leave on MyGrad: After submitting your status update, you will immediately receive an automated message with instructions.
- Pay the $25 fee on MyGrad by the last day of finals week (last Friday of the quarter) to finalize your leave.
Program Departure & Reinstatement
If you need to depart the program permanently or for an indefinite period longer than a few quarters, consult with your faculty advisor to explore your options, then submit a Linguistics PhD Status Update. If circumstances change and you wish to return in a future quarter, you may request reinstatement.