Programme description
Our PhD Linguistics programme enables you to carry out research in a field of linguistics that matches the interests of one of our members of staff.
The Department of Linguistics and English Language is an international centre for Linguistics, with 20 full-time members of staff and approximately 15 postgraduate research students.
We are virtually unique in the UK and beyond in the breadth of subject areas and theoretical approaches represented by our members, many of whom are internationally renowned scholars in their specialisms.
Our academics' areas of expertise include:
- phonetics and phonology
- morphology
- syntax (lexical-functional grammar, role and reference grammar, construction grammar, and minimalism)
- (formal) semantics
- pragmatics
- historical linguistics
- dialectology
- the linguistics of English
- language contact
- variationist sociolinguistics
- child language acquisition
- field linguistics and language documentation
- typology
- quantitative corpus-based approaches
- forensic linguistics.
In our research, we combine the advancement of theoretical approaches with a strong concern for their empirical and methodological foundations.
Each member of staff also has a special interest in particular languages and language families, including major European languages, as well as lesser known languages of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Australia.
WE DO NOT, HOWEVER, SUPERVISE PROJECTS WITH A FOCUS ON SECOND LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING OR LANGUAGE PEDAGOGY. PLEASE, DO NOT CONTACT STAFF MEMBERS ABOUT SUCH PROJECTS.
Joint supervision arrangements for interdisciplinary projects are available.
Find out more about our Linguistics research , staff members , and what our current postgraduate research students are working on.
Special features
Graduate School
All of our postgraduate students become members of the Graduate School when you start at Manchester. It has dedicated facilities for students and offers opportunities to collaborate with other postgraduates.
Additional programme information
Equality, diversity and inclusion is fundamental to the success of The University of Manchester, and is at the heart of all of our activities.
We know that diversity strengthens our research community, leading to enhanced research creativity, productivity and quality, and societal and economic impact.
We actively encourage applicants from diverse career paths and backgrounds and from all sections of the community, regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation and transgender status.
All appointments are made on merit.
The University of Manchester and our external partners are fully committed to equality, diversity and inclusion.
Teaching and learning
Supervision will involve regular meetings with two supervisors, of which records will be kept.
Research Panels (consisting of at least three academic staff, including the supervisors) are held once per semester to monitor progress.
Supervisory arrangements at Manchester are governed by a Code of Practice .
In addition, you will be supported by a strong research culture in the department and excellent opportunities for research training, including general research methods in the arts, humanities and social sciences, as well as subject-specific masterclasses, reading groups and a PhD seminar series for the discussion of ongoing work, and an annual postgraduate conference in Linguistics.
Coursework and assessment
The PhD involves three years of full-time study or six years of part-time study, and the preparation of a thesis of not more than 80,000 words that makes a significant contribution to knowledge.
A satisfactory PhD topic is one that a suitably qualified and properly supervised student can bring to completion within the permitted timeframe.
Please note that the first year of the full-time programme and the first two years of the part-time programme are probationary. This means you will be required to show evidence of satisfactory progress to proceed with the programme.
Facilities
We have a Psycholinguistics Laboratory as well as a Phonetics Laboratory with facilities for signal analysis, speech synthesis, laryngography and electropalatography, a large collection of specialist software and linguistic corpora, and, in The University of Manchester Library, one of the largest holdings in linguistics in the UK.
Manchester is home to one of the UK's five National Research Libraries - one of the best-resourced academic libraries in the UK and widely recognised as one of the world's greatest research libraries.
Find out more about libraries and study spaces for postgraduate research students at Manchester.
We also have one of the largest academic IT services in Europe - supporting world-class teaching and research. There are extensive computing facilities across campus, with access to standard office software as well as specialist programmes, all connected to the campus network and internet.
Every student is registered for email, file storage and internet access. If more demanding computer access is required, our specialist computing division can provide high-end and specialist computing services.
The Graduate School offers dedicated state of the art facilities to research students, including common rooms and workstations.
Find out more about facilities for Linguistics students.