Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics DPhil

University of Oxford

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.

The DPhil in Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics is an advanced research degree, awarded on the basis of a thesis and an oral examination. The emphasis in the DPhil is on self-directed learning, with guidance from the supervisor and other faculty. You are expected to submit your thesis three, or at most four, years from the date of admission (six, or at most eight, years for part-time students).

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 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)
• Psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics
• ancient grammatical thought in the Greco-Roman tradition.

A part-time DPhil student will be required to attend classes, seminars, supervision meetings and other obligations in Oxford for a minimum of 40 days each year. There will be some flexibility in the dates and pattern of attendance, which will be determined by mutual agreement with your supervisor. Typically, attendance will be required during term-time on at least two days in at least two terms, determined by mutual agreement with your supervisor. You will have the opportunity to tailor your part-time study in liaison with your supervisor and agree your pattern of attendance.