Graduate Certificate in Linguistics

The Graduate Certificate in Linguistics is designed for students with a bachelor’s degree who are interested in pursuing a graduate degree in linguistics, but who do not have the necessary background in linguistics. This is likely to be the case for students who developed an interest in linguistics late in their undergraduate studies or after they received their bachelor’s degree. This certificate prepares students to submit applications to MA or PhD programs at Boston University or elsewhere. Note that completion of the certificate is not a guarantee of admission to the Boston University graduate programs in linguistics. However, should a student enter the BU Linguistics MA program upon completion of this certificate, the elective course required for the certificate will count retroactively toward the MA degree requirements.

This program requires an average of 8–12 months to complete. Students may begin the program in the fall or spring term.

Learning Outcomes

• An understanding of the fundamental questions that drive modern linguistic research.
• The ability to identify and describe with precision the empirical patterns found in sets of language data, and to construct well-reasoned linguistic analyses by formulating, testing, and refining hypotheses about these patterns.
• Foundational knowledge in the core areas of phonetics, syntax, and semantics necessary to apply to graduate programs in linguistics and to take more advanced courses in the field.

Certificate Requirements

Students are expected to have already taken an introductory undergraduate course in linguistics or to have acquired equivalent knowledge prior to applying to the certificate program. Students who lack this background will be required to take CAS LX 250 Introduction to Linguistics or acquire equivalent knowledge before registering for the graduate certificate program. Students who are interested in this certificate but lack that background are encouraged to consult with the director of graduate admissions for linguistics.

A total of four courses (16 units) is required, as follows:

• MET LX 501/CAS LX 601 Phonetics and Phonology: Introduction to Sound Systems
• MET LX 521/CAS LX 621 Syntax: Introduction to Sentential Structure
• MET LX 531/CAS LX 331 Semantics and Pragmatics: Introduction to Linguistic Meaning
• One LX elective course to be selected from available offerings in consultation with the student’s advisor. Elective offerings vary from year to year, but may include:
  • MET LX 511/CAS LX 611 Morphology: Introduction to the Structures and Shapes of Words
  • MET LX 517/CAS LX 617 “Having” and “Being” Across Languages
  • MET LX 522/CAS LX 722 Intermediate Syntax: Modeling Syntactic Knowledge
  • MET LX 532/CAS LX 432 Intermediate Semantics: The Grammatical Construction of Meaning
  • MET LX 542/CAS LX 642 Language, Race, and Gender
  • MET LX 546/CAS LX 646 Language Variation and Change
  • MET LX 549/CAS LX 649 Bilingualism
  • MET LX 560/CAS LX 660 Historical and Comparative Linguistics
  • MET LX 565/CAS LX 665 Variation in Dialects of English
  • MET LX 591/CAS LX 691 Linguistic Field Methods
  • MET LX 594/CAS LX 694 Introduction to Programming for Computational Linguistics
  • MET LX 596/CAS LX 796 Computational Linguistics

Please contact the Director of Graduate Admissions for the Linguistics Department for additional information.