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To view the Spring 2024 Academic Calendar, go to www.sfu.ca/students/calendar/2024/spring.html.

Department of Linguistics | Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Simon Fraser University Calendar | Summer 2024

Linguistics

Master of Arts

The areas of specialization in this program are: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, computational linguistics, documentation and linguistic analysis of North American Indigenous Languages, historical and comparative linguistics, first and second language acquisition, neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics.

Admission Requirements

Applicants must satisfy the university admission requirements as stated in Graduate General Regulations 1.3 in the SFU Calendar. Students must also demonstrate adequate linguistics preparation. Those with little or no academic linguistics preparation may not obtain program admission or admission as a qualifying student.

Program Requirements

This program offers a thesis option, project option, and course work option for a minimum of 35 units.

Students must complete

LING 800 - Phonology (3)

An overview of contemporary phonological theory and its relation to phonetics, morphology and psycholinguistics.

Section Instructor Day/Time Location
G100 Ashley Farris-Trimble
May 6 – Jun 17, 2024: Wed, Fri, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
Burnaby
LING 801 - Syntax (3)

Introduction to formal syntactic analysis. Topics include categories, phrase structure, word order, grammatical relations, binding, and long-distance syntactic dependencies.

LING 851 - Research Techniques and Experimental Design (3)

Introduces the use of experimental methods and laboratory techniques for carrying out research in speech and language sciences. Topics include reading research literature, research design and hypothesis testing, statistical methods and data analysis, and research paper write-up.

LING 880 - Advanced Linguistic Research for Professional Development (3)

Designed to help students develop practical skills that will support their professional development as linguists, including writing research articles and preparing conference presentations, as well as critically evaluating and discussing influential works in the field. It is designed for second year students who are actively working on research projects, theses, and qualifying papers, so that they can share key literature related to their research and present their on-going work to benefit from the feedback of their cohort.

LING 890 - Graduate Seminar I (1) *

An introduction to professional aspects in the field of Linguistics. Course consists of seminars, lectures and workshops. Graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.

LING 891 - Graduate Seminar II (1) *

An introduction to professional aspects in the field of Linguistics. Course consists of seminars, lectures and workshops. Graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.

and requirements for one of the options below

Thesis Option

LING 898 - MA Thesis (18)

Students who are working on their Master of Arts thesis enroll in this course. Graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.

Section Instructor Day/Time Location
G100 Panayiotis Pappas
TBD
G200 Panayiotis Pappas
TBD
G300 Panayiotis Pappas
TBD
G400 Yue Wang
TBD
G600 Henny Yeung
TBD
G700 Marianne Ignace
TBD
G800 Suzanne Hilgendorf
TBD

and one additional graduate course**

Project Option

LING 893 - Linguistics MA Project (6)

Students who are working on their MA capstone project enroll in this course. Graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.

Section Instructor Day/Time Location
G110 Marianne Ignace
Peter Jacobs
TBD
G320 Donna Gerdts
TBD

and five additional graduate courses**

Course-based Option

and seven additional graduate courses**

* LING 890 and LING 891 should be completed in the first year of program enrollment.

** must be approved by the supervisor. Only one directed research course allowed.

Accelerated Master's

SFU students accepted in the accelerated master’s within the Department of Linguistics may apply a maximum of 10 graduate course units, taken while completing the bachelor's degree, towards the upper division electives of the bachelor's program and the requirements of the master's degree. These graduate courses must be passed with a grade of B (3.0) or better in order to be used towards the requirements of the master's degree. Students may apply for the Accelerated MA once they have completed 90 units with a 3.67 or greater CGPA. For more information go to: https://www.sfu.ca/gradstudies/apply/programs/accelerated-masters.html and http://www.sfu.ca/linguistics.html.

Program Length

Students are expected to complete the program requirements in six terms.

Academic Requirements within the Graduate General Regulations

All graduate students must satisfy the academic requirements that are specified in the Graduate General Regulations, as well as the specific requirements for the program in which they are enrolled.