Graduate Linguistics
The English Department at the Mississippi State University offers an emphasis in Linguistics under the department’s Master of Art Degree in English.
Information about the program requirements of the M.A. in English can be found on the English M.A. website. Students interested in this emphasis should contact Dr. Shalyn Claggett for information about graduate school admissions and Dr. Ginger Pizer for information on the Linguistics Master’s Degree emphasis.
Requirements for the Non-Thesis Program
- Students who chose to take the non-thesis route to completing their Master’s degree must complete 33 hours of course work.
- For the Linguistics emphasis student this would require six seminar classes at the 8000 level
- EN 8103 and five electives and
- Five split level Linguistics courses:
- EN 6403: Introduction to Linguistics (offered fall and spring),
- 6413: History of the English Language (spring),
- 6433: English Syntax (spring),
- 6623: Language and Culture (fall), and
- 6633: Language and Society (spring).
- All students must pass the M.A. comprehensive exam prior to graduation.
- All students must also demonstrate fluency in a second language. This can be accomplished by the completion of 12 lower level credit hours in a foreign language (with a 3.0 average in all classes) or through the successful completion of a language ability translation test. Mississippi State utilizes the WebCAPE foreign language placement exam, which is administered by the Language Media Center of the Foreign Languages Department.
Requirements for the Thesis Program
- Students who chose to take the thesis route to completing their Master’s degree must complete 24 hours of course work and complete a thesis.
- For the Linguistics emphasis student this would require four seminar classes at the 8000 level
- EN 8103 and three electives and
- four split level Linguistics courses
- EN 6403 Introduction to Linguistics (offered fall and spring),
- EN 6413 History of the English Language (spring)
- EN 6433 English Syntax (spring),
- EN 6623 Language and Culture (fall), or EN 6633 Language and Society (spring).
- It is also important to note that students that opt for the thesis route must still pass the M.A. comprehensive exam which focuses solely on literature. It is therefore highly recommended that students who opt for the thesis route consider enrolling in additional seminar courses.
- All students must also demonstrate fluency in a second language. This can be accomplished by the completion of 12 lower level credit hours in a foreign language (with a 3.0 average in all classes) or through the successful completion of a language ability translation test. Mississippi State utilizes the WebCAPE foreign language placement exam, which is administered by the Language Media Center of the Foreign Languages Department.
