PhD Semitic Linguistics

[caldwell614]

I just started my M.A. Program, but I want to start looking into some PhD programs so it doesn't catch me off guard come application time. 

 

I have looked into some programs in Semitic Philology as well as some Linguistics Programs, but I have been unable to find schools that seem to have Linguistics faculty with a background in Semitics. I would love to approach my study of ancient Semitic languages with the methodology of Linguistics, but most programs I have found in Linguistics seem to lean towards Indo-European languages. I was an undergraduate at Ohio State and they had a great Hebrew program and a great Linguistics program, but no overlap at all.

 

Does anyone know of a program that blends these two fields?

[fuzzylogician]

If you want to study Semitic using the methodologies of linguistics, you should consider applying to general linguistics programs. You don't need there to be someone who works on Semitic, in particular; you want someone with expertise in the areas that interest you (what are they, by the way) who can support you in pointing out relevant literature, facts about other languages, etc. Maybe you need to have to have a collaboration with someone from the Language/Lit program or wherever Semitic scholars are found. But the thing about general linguistics programs is that you are not very likely to find people who work exclusively on language X, because that's just not how we perceive our field--we work on questions of interest that may require us to look at a particular language or language family, but not many professors restrict themselves to just one language (though there are those too, especially people who work on under-studied languages where you need to go into the field to collect data and there are not many speakers around). For its number of speakers, Hebrew is actually very well represented in linguistics as an object of study, because there are quite a few Jewish/Israeli linguists who (at least occasionally) write about it. So, it's quite normal for a student in a particular program to be the only person working on a particular language, and the faculty don't need to be experts in it to be great advisors. They provide the technical knowledge and expertise, and you're the expert on the details of your language. Of course, this would lead to a specific kind of education that I'm betting is very different than what you've done in your past; it's something to learn more about. Maybe you'll end up trying to do the collaboration in the opposite direction - apply to a program that's more along the lines of what you've done in the past and find an interested professor who is willing to work with you in a linguistics program, assuming the school you go to has one. 

[caldwell614]

I want to do Comparative/Historical Linguistics in Semitics. I want to focus on ancient/classical languages (Ancient Hebrew, Ge'ez, Akkadian, Ugaritic, Classical Arabic, etc.) but many of the classes I've taken have focused on the language's development from the perspective of orthography, not sound. Maybe that is just the nature of undergrad courses though where they don't expect students to know too much. Maybe I'll start looking into doing a NELC degree and collaborate with Linguistics staff as you suggest. I didn't consider the possibility of overlap between multiple departments. 

 

In that case what are some of the better Comparative/Historical Linguistics programs? I have been able to find lists of schools that have good Semitic language programs, but many top Linguistics programs I've seen seem to be more science-leaning than history-leaning.