1. Linguistics
  2. Curriculum and Degree Information
  3. M.A.
  4. M.A. with Computational Linguistics Concentration

M.A. with Computational Linguistics Concentration

The M.A. in Computational Linguistics prepares linguistics students for challenging careers in industrial and research settings.

The M.A. in Computational Linguistics prepares linguistics students for challenging careers in industrial and research settings.

The program is designed for students with only basic familiarity with computers or programming, and the curriculum is designed to provide students with a core set of programming skills, solid foundation in major sub‐fields of linguistics, and an understanding of modern developments in the field of computational linguistics. In fact, there are many companies and research centers in the greater New York area that are focused on Internet search engine technologies, human speech recognition and synthesis, extracting and mining information available online, designing software that can analyze/process human writing, or developing educational applications.

Path to Degree

Fall 1 - 12 credits
  • LING70100: Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics + Practicum (4 credits)
  • LING71200: Syntax I + Practicum (4 credits)
  • LING78100: Methods in Computational Linguistics I + Practicum (4 credits)
Spring 1 - 10 credits
  • LING83800: Methods in Computational Linguistics II (3 credits)
  • LING7800: Corpus Analysis (3 credits)

One of the following

  • LING71300: Phonology I + Practicum (4 credits)
  • LING72300: Semantics I + Practicum (4 credits)
Fall 2 - 6 credits
  • LING83600: Language Technology (3 credits)
  • Elective (3 credits)
Spring 2 - 4 credits
  • Elective (3 credits)
  • Supervised Research/Master’s Thesis (1 credits)

Curriculum Requirements

The M.A. in Computational Linguistics requires thirty-two (32) credits of approved graduate course work, including 26 credits of required core curriculum courses:

  • Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics + Practicum (4 credits)
  • Syntax I + Practicum (4 credits)
  • Methods in Computational Linguistics I + Practicum (4 credits)
  • Methods in Computational Linguistics II (3 credits; prerequisite: Methods I)
  • Language Technology (3 credits)
  • Corpus Analysis (3 credits)
  • MA Supervised Research Thesis / Independent Study (1 credit)
  • Any one of the following:
    • Phonology I + practicum (4 credits)
    • Semantics I + practicum (4 credits)

The remaining 6 credits are taken as electives, which can be taken outside of Linguistics.

Note: Students with a strong computational or programming background may be able to replace one or both of the Methods in Computational Linguistics courses with other courses from the electives list.

MA Thesis format

  • Theses should first follow all format requirements imposed by the library.
  • Theses should target a length of 30-60 pages not including front matter, references, and appendices, with longer theses acceptable. Large conglomerations of data should be included in appendices rather than the body. 
  • Bibliographies should follow the Linguistic Inquiry style or American Psychological Association style. 
  • In-text references should be given in author-date format. 
  • Linguistic examples should be numbered, glossed and translated where appropriate, and morph-by-morph glosses should follow the Leipzig Glossing Rules guidelines. 
  • The above are subject to advisor discretion. 

Students must write a thesis that results in a pass (B grade or better) for the Supervised Research Project. The student will seek out a tenured or tenure-tracked faculty member in the Linguistics Program to serve as their thesis research supervisor. The research topic must be approved by student’s chosen faculty supervisor. The student must submit the Supervised Research Project Topic Approval Form to the Director of the CL-MA program or the APO before registration.

Masters thesis deposit procedures are available via the Mina Rees Library.

Contacts

Kyle Gorman

Assistant Professor, Linguistics