Postgraduate research programmes in Linguistics and English Language
Linguistics and English Language has 15 members of staff and over 20 postgraduate students, including a number supported by the AHRC. We possess an excellent phonetics laboratory. The Research Assessment Exercise 2008 has judged more than half of Linguistics and English Language work to be in the top two research categories of 4* ('world-leading') and 3* ('internationally excellent'). Our research page will give you information on the specific research interests of academic staff and links to their individual pages, and potential supervisors welcome the opportunity to discuss research proposals with prospective students at any mutually convenient time.
Manchester is an international centre for linguistics and English language. The department is virtually unique in the UK and beyond in the breadth of subject areas and theoretical approaches represented by its members, many of whom are internationally renowned scholars in their specialisms. Particular strengths in the discipline include: endangered languages, field linguistics and language documentation, the linguistics of English (both synchronic and diachronic), phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax (especially lexical-functional grammar and construction grammar), typology, language contact, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics (especially English, Romance and Germanic), (formal) semantics and pragmatics, and corpus and computational linguistics.
Each member of staff also has a special interest in particular languages and language families, including Australian native languages, Arabic, Basque, Burmese, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Huave, Icelandic, Iranian, Italian, Khoisan and Southern Bantu, Malay, Misumalpan, Quechua, Papuan, Romani, Russian, Scandinavian, Spanish, Turkish and Welsh. See the list of languages, language families and experts on the ILLS pages.
Research students in Linguistics and English Language work towards either the PhD or the MPhil. We also offer the Integrated PhD programme. To gain admission to one of our research degrees you will need to have successfully completed an MA in Linguistics or English Language here in Manchester or elsewhere, provided that the programme included an element of research training, or to show evidence of previous postgraduate research in linguistics, such as a dissertation or published work. We welcome applications from prospective research students in any of our areas of specialisation.
Some recent PhD students in Linguistics and English Language
Programmes
- English Language PhD
- Linguistics and English Language Integrated MA/PhD
- Linguistics MPhil
- Linguistics PhD
Notes on Linguistics PhD
Students may pursue research for a PhD in any area that the Department specialises in (i.e. most branches of general linguistics and of English linguistics/language); technically speaking, the degree of PhD is not classified by subject.
Please note that we cannot offer PhD supervision for dissertations whose main focus is on language teaching or language learning in the classroom; applicants whose interests lie principally in those areas may wish to consult the School of Education instead.
Further Information
For information on how to apply, fees and funding, and postgraduate study in the School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures, please visit the: