PhD in Linguistics

The Department of Linguistics invites applications from students interested in pursuing a fully-funded PhD program in linguistics focusing on cross-disciplinary training and collaboration.

The faculty in the Department of Linguistics are grounded in the traditional fields of formal linguistics, employing empirical methodologies to examine data and topics in experimental syntax, semantics, pragmatics, phonetics, laboratory phonology, and morphology in collaboration with researchers in allied fields. Our work incorporates contemporary issues and practices in language documentation, corpus linguistics, dialect variation and psycholinguistics.

Linguistics is a core member of Rochester's Center for Language Sciences, which also includes researchers in computer science, philosophy, and related departments, such as biomedical engineering, brain and cognitive sciences, as well as departments at the Eastman School of Music. At Rochester, cross disciplinary collaborative work is the norm.

Interdisciplinary engagement

Many of our students have benefited from engaging in interdisciplinary work with other departments at the University of Rochester. These departments include computer science, philosophy, biomedical engineering, and brain and cognitive sciences, and might include diverse fields such as anthropology or music theory at the Eastman School of Music.

For more information, please contact linguistics@rochester.edu.

The PhD Handbook in Linguistics

A description of the PhD program, the requirements for the program, a list of the graduate courses and course descriptions, a timeline, and two sample schedules are found in the downloadable PhD Handbook. If you have any more questions, please contact Aaron White, Director of Graduate Studies.

For information about linguistics faculty and their research, visit their web pages: