Department of Linguistics
1) Requirements for the Accelerated M.A. in Linguistics with a track in Language and Communication
The M.A. in Language and Communication prepares students to use linguistics, especially the areas of discourse analysis (including narrative analysis and cross cultural communication), sociolinguistics, and pragmatics in the workforce. The degree will prepare students for careers in fields such as human resources, education, mediation and arbitration, technical and scientific writing, management, international communication, diversity training, counseling, advertising, marketing, usability testing, public relations, and media/ public opinion research. The MLC also offers broad training in the analysis of language and communication, with possible foci on language and health care, language and the law, language and business.
Overall requirements:
10 courses (30 credits)
Other than the first required course, there is flexibility in all course requirements.
Please note that there is no non-native language requirement.
Required courses
Ling 401 General Linguistics (may be waived if student has a background in Linguistics)
3 additional courses, to be selected from the following:
Language and social life
Speech acts
Pragmatics
Discourse: Narrative
Discourse: Conversation
Approaches to Discourse
Cross/Intercultural communication
Introduction to Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistic Field Methods
Electives
6 courses to be selected from the following:
Computational Tools for Linguists
Multimodal discourse
American Dialects
Corpus Linguistics
Linguistics in the professions
Language and the internet
Linguistics and writing
Approaches to discourse analysis
Variation analysis
Ethnography of communication
Statistics for Linguists
Language and law
Language and aging
Language and gender
Language and the media
Language and Clinical Practice
Intertextuality
Cross-disciplinary discourse analysis
Alternative courses, that reflect the needs and interests of individual students, may be selected under the guidance of the faculty advisor. They may include courses in other departments or schools within Georgetown, as well as courses at area universities (e.g. American, George Mason, George Washington) through the Washington Area Consortium of Universities.
2) Admission to the Accelerated MLC program
a) Only Linguistics majors (or a student with a double major in Linguistics and another major) with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 overall and in the Linguistics major are eligible.
b) Students must apply to the Accelerated MLC program by February 2 of their third undergraduate year (in order to select appropriate fourth-year courses).
The application consists of a completed Graduate School application form, a copy of the student’s undergraduate transcript, three letters of recommendation, a statement of purpose, and a writing sample. (Applicants do not have take the GRE or pay an application fee.)
c) Applications to the Accelerated MLC program are reviewed in the same pool as all graduate applicants.
d) Accepted students must complete a plan of study with their advisor and/or the Director of Undergraduate Studies before preregistration in the spring of their third year.
e) The requirements of the Accelerated MLC program are the same as those for the regular MLC program with 2 exceptions:
a. The MLC requirements can be satisfied more quickly. This is because two graduate courses (LING 350 or higher) are taken during the fourth year in addition to the AB degree requirements (38 courses, 120 credits). These two courses may then be applied to the MLC degree.
b. Unlike the students in the regular MA program with the MLC degree—who can choose between taking 8 courses (24 credits) plus Master's Thesis or 30 credits—students in the Accelerated MLC must complete 30 credits.