Graduate Linguistics

The English Department at the Mississippi State University offers an emphasis in Linguistics under the department’s Master of Art Degree in English. The coursework for this emphasis is split roughly equally between linguistics and literature.

Information about the program requirements of the M.A. in English can be found on the English M.A. website. Students interested in this emphasis should contact Dr. Shalyn Claggett for information about graduate school admissions and Dr. Ginger Pizer for information on the Linguistics Master’s Degree emphasis.

Requirements for the Non-Thesis Program

• Students who chose to take the non-thesis route to completing their Master’s degree must complete 33 hours of course work:
  • Six seminar classes at the 8000 level, including EN 8103; all of the seminars are literature courses. 
  • Five linguistics courses at the 6000 level
• All students must pass the M.A. comprehensive exam prior to graduation.
• All students must also demonstrate fluency in a second language. This can be accomplished by the completion of 12 lower level credit hours in a foreign language (with a 3.0 average in all classes) or through the successful completion of a language ability translation test. Mississippi State utilizes the WebCAPE foreign language placement exam, which is administered by the Language Media Center of the Foreign Languages Department. 

Requirements for the Thesis Program

• Students who chose to take the thesis route to completing their Master’s degree must complete a thesis and 24 hours of course work:
  • Four seminar classes at the 8000 level, including EN 8103; all of the seminars are literature courses. 
  • Four linguistics courses at the 6000 level
• All students must also demonstrate fluency in a second language. This can be accomplished by the completion of 12 lower level credit hours in a foreign language (with a 3.0 average in all classes) or through the successful completion of a language ability translation test. Mississippi State utilizes the WebCAPE foreign language placement exam, which is administered by the Language Media Center of the Foreign Languages Department.