The Department of Linguistics at the University of Alberta, established in 1969, offers MSc and PhD positions for prospective graduate students interested in learning and conducting research with our vibrant team of faculty members, graduate students, and other academics in state-of-the-art research facilities.
*The application deadline is January 15, 2025*.
The Department has a long-standing focus on community-engaged work with Indigenous languages and their sustainability and revitalization. Current areas of specialization include:
Documentation and fieldwork on languages of Canada, the US, Mexico, Central America (especially, El Salvador), the Amazon and the South Pacific (Antti Arppe, David Beck, Martin Guardado, Marianne Huijsmans, Jordan Lachler, Yvonne Lam, and Jorge Rosés Labrada)
Curriculum development and language teaching methods for North American Indigenous languages (Lachler)
Indigenous language sustainability and revitalization (Huijsmans, Lachler, Lam, Rosés Labrada)
Language technology and linguistic software applications for Indigenous languages (Arppe, Lachler)
Indigenous language lexicography (Arppe, Beck, Huijsmans, Lachler, Rosés Labrada)
Historical linguistics of the languages of the Americas (Beck, Rosés Labrada)
Indigenous language revitalization initiatives in grassroots community groups (Guardado)
Please see the full listing of current Department faculty here: https://www.ualberta.ca/linguistics/people
Our research labs include the Language Documentation Research Cluster, which has newly upgraded computing and audio/video recording equipment for on-site and off-site data collection and processing,the Alberta Language Technology Lab, which is engaged in the development of computational models and various end-user software applications and resources for several Indigenous languages spoken in North America, and the DRAGONS Lab, which conducts research on language revitalization strategies globally.
We also work closely with the Alberta Phonetics Laboratory and have access to a number of sound-treated booths for high-quality audio recording. Additionally, our students benefit from our close ties with the Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Development Institute (CILLDI) and regularly gain experience working as interns and instructors for CILLDI programs, both on campus and in communities.
Accepted PhD graduate students are provided four years of funding in the form of TA and RA stipends. Other support for research and conference travel, attending and hosting disciplinary events, and obtaining tools for research is also available. The Department offers cutting-edge training in statistical techniques, research methodologies in language documentation and language sustainability, psycholinguistics, and core areas of linguistics. Opportunities for within-discipline and cross-disciplinary collaboration are also available.
For more information on the Department and the graduate admissions process, please visit our departmental website at: https://www.ualberta.ca/linguistics, or contact Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Johanne Paradis (linggrad@ualberta.ca).