Department of Linguistics

The Department of Linguistics offers courses of study leading to the Master of Arts in Linguistics with a concentration in Language and Communication; Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language; Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language and Bilingual Education; Master of Science in Linguistics; Accelerated Master's degrees; Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics.

Graduate students develop a primary research expertise in their chosen concentration, but are encouraged to cultivate secondary competences in other concentrations as well.  Students can specialize in Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, or Theoretical Linguistics.

Along with Georgetown Linguistics faculty, students frequently present at the conferences of the American Association for Anthropology, the American Association for Applied Linguistics, New Ways of Analyzing Variation, the North East Linguistics Society, and the Linguistic Society of America. They publish in such journals as Applied Linguistics, Foreign Language Annals, Journal of Phonetics, Journal of Pragmatics, Language, Language in Society, Language Variation and Change, Linguistics and Philosophy, Natural Language Semantics, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, and TESOL Quarterly. 

Georgetown graduates are well-rounded linguists and are very competitive in both academic and non-academic job markets. Nearly half of our students come from outside the United States, contributing to a culture of linguistic and cultural diversity which enriches the department’s intellectual and social life. Georgetown Linguistics alumni can be found all around the country and the world in positions of leadership and responsibility, in academia and in business. Undergraduate linguistics majors have their own foundational curriculum but can develop and apply their linguistic knowledge and analytical skills in elective courses with graduate students; many proceed to top graduate programs in linguistics and related fields.