POSTGRADUATE PROSPECTUS

102DEPARTMENT OFLINGUISTICSNUMBER OF STAFF 10RAE 3aDEPARTMENT WEBSITEwww.soas.ac.uk/linguisticsFACULTY Languages and CulturesThe Department was established in 1932, the firstlinguistics department in Britain, as a centre forresearch and study in Oriental and African languages.This is a role that it continues to play today. In additionto its seven core members of academic staff, theDepartment is home to an active community ofdistinguished visiting scholars, research associates,and postgraduate students.Research interests of the Faculty are wide-rangingand span the world’s languages, from Chinese toArabic, Swahili to Korean, Mongolian to Japanese.This focus on Oriental and African languages,informed by research in other Western andnon-Western languages and combined with theunparalleled access to the vast language and regionalexpertise of linguists in other SOAS departments,provides a unique research environment for thestudy of theoretical, comparative, descriptive anddocumentary linguistics.The Department offers Masters degrees intheoretical, descriptive and applied linguistics,and MPhil/PhD courses in Linguistics and inField Linguistics. More than 60% of students areregistered for postgraduate degrees, creating avibrant and supportive community which reflectsthe department’s emphasis on research andtraining and the diversity of its research interests.The Department hosts the Hans RausingEndangered Languages Project, funded by theLisbet Rausing Charitable Fund. This includes theEndangered Languages Academic Programme andthe Endangered Languages Archive, a state of theart digital language archive. There is a LinguisticsResources room which is equipped with computerhardware and software for linguistic analysis anda digital sound recording booth.RESEARCH DEGREESTAUGHT MASTERS DEGREESMA LINGUISTICSPATHWAYS IN MA LINGUISTICS:- MA LINGUISTICS (ARABIC)- MA LINGUISTICS (CHINESE)- MA LINGUISTICS (JAPANESE)- MA LINGUISTICS (KOREAN)- MA LINGUISTICS(TRANSLATION THEORY)MA LANGUAGE DOCUMENTATIONAND DESCRIPTIONMA THEORY AND PRACTICE OFTRANSLATIONSupervision is offered in theoretical, descriptiveand comparative linguistics, translation andlanguage variation. The MPhil/PhD coursesinclude a research training component whichcombines foundation and advanced coursesin linguistics, training in research methods,optional courses in field methods, linguisticdocumentation and research work leading to adissertation. Through a combination of courses,advanced seminars and individual supervision,the MPhil/PhD course aims to provide theintellectual discipline, knowledge and skillsrequired of a well-rounded researcher.LINGUISTICSSOME RECENT RESEARCH THESESMahmoud Fathulla Ahmad – The Tense and AspectSystem in KurdishIan Pickett – Some Aspects of Dialect VariationAmong the Nomads in Syria and Lebanon