StudyQA — PhD: Comparative Philology and General Linguistics

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Description Contents Requirements Funding

The DPhil is an advanced research degree for qualified students who are ready to begin thesis work in the field of general linguistics (including phonetics but not applied linguistics), in historical and comparative philology and linguistics, or in the linguistics of a specific language.

Graduates follow career paths that include academia and higher education, research services, research and development, secondary and further education, industry and the civil service.

The DPhil in General Linguistics and Comparative Philology is an advanced research degree, awarded on the basis of a thesis and an oral examination. The thesis will be based on extensive original research and engagement with current scholarship. You are expected to submit your thesis three, or at most four, years from the date of admission.

You will be supported by a supervisor or supervisors who will help you develop a programme of research and writing. You will also benefit from the advice and support of other members of the faculty and can draw on the expertise of scholars and colleagues throughout the faculty and University.

You are encouraged to attend and to contribute to the wide range of research seminars, conferences and workshops organized by the faculty. You will also have access to specialist training courses offered by the Advanced Core Training in Linguistics programme (ACTL), Bodleian Library, Language Centre and IT services.

Linguistics at Oxford is an interdisciplinary subject, with most areas of general linguistics as well as Indo-European, Romance and Slavic historical and comparative linguistics being represented by one or several members of staff.

Current research falls into seven main areas:

linguistic theory (morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics and their interfaces)
Indo-European comparative philology (especially Greek, Italic/Latin, Indo-Iranian, Anatolian, Celtic, Slavic and Tocharian)
phonetics and phonology (especially phonetics/phonology interface, speech perception, language comprehension)
Romance philology (Research Centre on Romance Linguistics, especially diachronic morphology, syntax of Italo-Romance and phonetics of French)
neurolinguistics/psycholinguistics
sociolinguistics (language variation and change, language and gender)
ancient grammatical thought in the Greco-Roman tradition.

Applicants are normally expected to be predicted or have achieved a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours (or equivalent international qualifications), as a minimum, in a relevant subject.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA sought is 3.5 out of 4.0.

However, entrance is very competitive and most successful applicants have a first-class degree or the equivalent.

A master's degree in a relevant subject is also required. Applicants are expected to have a background in linguistics comparable to Oxford's MPhil degree in General Linguistics and Comparative Philology and to be predicted to achieve or to have achieved a very good result or a result close to distinction level in their master's degree.

If you hold non-UK qualifications and wish to check how your qualifications match these requirements, you can contact the National Recognition Information Centre for the United Kingdom (UK NARIC).

Under exceptional circumstances substantial professional experience maybe considered a substitute.

Applicants should already have the knowledge and skills necessary to begin work on their chosen topic. This may include knowledge of the language to be studied, or for a computational thesis, relevant programming skills.

No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.

Official transcript(s)
CV/résumé
Research proposal: Up to four pages
Written work: Two essays of 2,000 words each
References/letters of recommendation: Three overall, all of which must be academic

ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

Higher level

est	Standard level scores		Higher level scores
IELTS Academic Institution code: 0713	7.0	Minimum 6.5 per component	7.5	Minimum 7.0 per component
TOEFL iBT Institution code: 0490	100	Minimum component scores: Listening: 22 Reading: 24 Speaking: 25 Writing: 24	110	Minimum component scores: Listening: 22 Reading: 24 Speaking: 25 Writing: 24
Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE)	185	Minimum 176 per component	191	Minimum 185 per component
Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English (CAE)	185	Minimum 176 per component	191	Minimum 185 per component