MA or straight to PhD with very little prior linguistic experience

[Francophile1]

Hello,

I am toying with the idea maybe to apply to a Linguistics PhD. I am now in a literature based program but I am finding more and more that I would be more interested in the language aspect of it. Please help me out here!

If I have very little experience in linguistics- my minor was in it but that was a while ago and that's it. Should I be applying to MA only programs or PhD combined programs?

[hoviariel]

Well, it really depends on the school and how well you describe your linguistic experience, and what specialty you want to go into.

If you at most have a minor but no clear idea over a specialty, then an MA is a good place. But, if you have a minor and a specialty in mind, then PhD's are not impossible, just more difficult, it will depend a lot on how you have been able to prepare yourself with your specialty. In my case, I have an English BA which involved taking 24 credits of linguistics courses and a minor in computer science, so I got accepted into a PhD program in comp ling (see how the comp minor fits in?).

Because I don't know about your case I can only say that MA seems right for you because you make yourself sound like ur still a novice in linguistics. However, if you're interested in stylistics, then you would have a gd shot at applying to stylistics-specialized programs (MA or PhD) because your BA+minor would act as a good baseline for it. I don't know of any stylistics programs in the states though since it's really concentrated in the UK

[fuzzylogician]

Judging by the other thread you started, it seems like you're not entirely sure what you want to study within linguistics. Given that, I think you may have a hard time choosing schools that would be a good fit, and having a strong enough application to get in. It seems, then, that applying for an MA may be the best solution for you -- get some exposure to the different subfields, get some research experience, and put yourself in a position to have stronger LORs and a writing sample in the field. If, after you've gone through the program, you still think you want to get a PhD, I think you'll be in a much better position to do so. At the moment, though, I think it's not yet time for you to consider PhD programs.

[Francophile1]

Yes that's what I thought. In fact I am struggling between choosing literature or linguistics. I always loved languages but as I understand linguistics is really more of a scientific approach that teaches about languages- is that correct? I love languages more than literature itself but a.) I am unsure if I would really want to go for another MA, which most likely would not be funded and b.) I would really like to utilize my language knowledge- I speak 5.

 

ALso on another note: I have been researching MA's and it seems the only linguistic related MA degrees I could find center either on applied linguistics or TESOL. SO if one wants to study for example Syntax, is this done at the PhD level?

 

Anyway I really need to decide this soon, whether I should get another MA and then maybe PhD in Linguistics or go the Lit. route.

 

If anyone can suggest any questions I should be asking myself in order to make this decision, please list here!

[hoviariel]

Whether you are multilingual and love language learning is irrelevant to linguistic research, i.e. research on language as a phenomenon with its systems, forms, functions, developments, structures, etc. I should know because I'm doing my degree but I hate learning languages. So it's not about loving languages and loving to learn languages and language idiosyncraises, but about loving the pursuit of a systematic and empirical of language as a general human phenomenon which would involve the study of these idiosyncrasies but only for the bigger picture.

http://www.linguisticsociety.org/programs i dnt know where u got ur info, but generally speaking MAs are more geared toward either TESOL or general linguistics. Though some programs offer more courses in a specific subfield more than others and some MAs can even go beyond general linguistics and be specialized in a specific experimental field, like Washington's comp ling MA.

 

After reading this, I'm not sure what about language you actually like, the fact that it can be used creatively, the fact that you can speak 5, or that you are actually going toward lit. If I were you, I'ld check out some stylistics programs because stylistics would be a good compromise between your love and lit n languages  http://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-410098001/checklist-of-american-and-british-programs-in-stylistics (just make a free trial to see the rest of it)

[Francophile1]

Thanks alot- I will look into stylistics!

[ExponentialDecay]

Comparative Literature; Translation Studies?

[Francophile1]

Yes comparative literature might be interesting however languages themselves is what interests me. I wonder what kind of positions people get with a translations studies degree (apart from just being translators).

[hoviariel]

Well, one of my teachers had an MA in translation+applied ling and a PhD in applied ling. She was able to get into translation, english education, and contrastive linguistics.  

i guess the jobs you can get with a translation MA depends on what you focus on with in. For example, because of the dual linguistic/translation nature of her MA, she was able to get into those fields above though still at the MA level

[ExponentialDecay]

There's a lot of ways you can study languages (what about languages interests you, by the way?). I don't think scholars of literature actually study literature. They either study its phenomenology, which effectively is cultural studies of some description, or its structure, which grew out of what Saussure did. A lady I know inaugurated the translation studies program at Princeton, and she does translation theory based on Jakobson, which is like linguistics except she doesn't use math or experimentation and talks about the way that speaking a different language transforms the way that you think, which is a concept that I think can be done rigorously as part of linguistics (I've seen tangents on it in published research) but perhaps not with the technical and conceptual tools available now. I have no relation to linguistics whatsoever, but I stalk the LSA and this board, and it seems to me that linguists are more similar to economists and computer scientists than they are to anybody whom we traditionally associate with the languages. Like, if there isn't mad calculus, there's mad formal logic. It just seems like such a different methodology and way of approaching the subject matter that I feel, as a person with something of a literary studies background, I would feel very behind and out of place in a linguistics program. By which I mean, you might need a Master's.

 

As for translation degrees, you actually have to be careful with them as you are with teaching degrees, because different types of translation have different types of degree or certification. For instance, to be a simultaneous translator, you need a special certificate. Medical, legal, and business translators all have different degrees. But keep in mind that this isn't a research degree; this is a 9-5 work your ass off 2 weeks vacation and 401k degree. 

[Francophile1]

Thanks alot, actually your question made me think! I would say what interests me most is teaching language/ I am very interested in grammar and culture. I guess this means that probably a career in education/ CC o HS would be what would be closest fit for me..maybe

[funchaku]

Yes that's what I thought. In fact I am struggling between choosing literature or linguistics. I always loved languages but as I understand linguistics is really more of a scientific approach that teaches about languages- is that correct? I love languages more than literature itself but a.) I am unsure if I would really want to go for another MA, which most likely would not be funded and b.) I would really like to utilize my language knowledge- I speak 5.

 

ALso on another note: I have been researching MA's and it seems the only linguistic related MA degrees I could find center either on applied linguistics or TESOL. SO if one wants to study for example Syntax, is this done at the PhD level?

 

Anyway I really need to decide this soon, whether I should get another MA and then maybe PhD in Linguistics or go the Lit. route.

 

If anyone can suggest any questions I should be asking myself in order to make this decision, please list here!

 

I am in agreement with Fuzzylogician that before you decide to expend the time, money, and effort towards an MA program in Linguistics, you should probably get a bit more exposure to different subfields in Linguistics. This can be done several ways-- you might want to read textbooks on your own, sit in on Linguistics courses as a visitor, etc. There aren't that many MA programs in theoretical linguistics, but they do exist! Some that I can immediate think of are: UNC Chapel Hill, Univ Hawaii Manoa, CU Boulder, Georgetown.

 

Deciding whether or not you want to do a PhD in something is a huge decision. You are essentially marrying the field. Sure, divorce is an option, but you shouldn't be jumping into it if you don't think there's a chance of this being a "forever" career. My advice: don't rush this without doing ample homework.