Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics

The DPhil in Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics is an advanced research degree, awarded on the basis of a thesis and an oral examination. The thesis will be based on extensive original research and engagement with current scholarship. You are expected to submit your thesis three, or at most four, years from the date of admission.

You will be supported by a supervisor or supervisors who will help you develop a programme of research and writing. You will also benefit from the advice and support of other members of the faculty and can draw on the expertise of scholars and colleagues throughout the faculty and University.

You are encouraged to attend and to contribute to the wide range of research seminars, conferences and workshops organized by the faculty. You will also have access to specialist training courses offered by the Advanced Core Training in Linguistics programme (ACTL), Bodleian Library, Language Centre and IT services.

Linguistics at Oxford is an interdisciplinary subject, with most areas of general linguistics as well as Indo-European, Romance and Slavic historical and comparative linguistics being represented by one or several members of staff.

Current research falls into seven main areas:

• linguistic theory (morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics and their interfaces)
• Indo-European comparative philology (especially Greek, Italic/Latin, Indo-Iranian, Anatolian, Celtic, Slavic and Tocharian)
• phonetics and phonology (especially phonetics/phonology interface, speech perception, language comprehension)
• Romance philology (Research Centre on Romance Linguistics, especially diachronic morphology, syntax of Italo-Romance and phonetics of French)
• neurolinguistics/psycholinguistics
• sociolinguistics (language variation and change, language and gender)
• ancient grammatical thought in the Greco-Roman tradition.

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics.

Graduates follow career paths that include academia and higher education, research services, research and development, secondary and further education, industry and the civil service.

Changes to this course and your supervision

The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. In certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.

Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.

For further information, please see our page on changes to courses.

Other courses you may wish to consider

If you're thinking about applying for this course, you may also wish to consider the courses listed below. These courses may have been suggested due to their similarity with this course, or because they are offered by the same department or faculty.

Courses suggested by the faculty

Classical Languages and Literature DPhil
English DPhil
Medieval and Modern Languages DPhil
Oriental Studies DPhil
Experimental Psychology DPhil
Computer Science DPhil
Ancient History DPhil

All graduate courses offered by the Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics

Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics DPhil

Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics MPhil

Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics MSt

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Entry requirements