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Curriculum

The Master of Science program is designed specifically to prepare students to enter a competitive, scientific workforce. During the two-year course of study, students will gain a strong understanding of both linguistics and language technology.

The minimum number of credit hours for this degree is 36.

Students with little to no background in linguistics are encouraged to take LING500 (Linguistics for Non-majors) before formally enrolling in the program, although with permission, they may take it as an elective in Year 1.

Students with no programming experience should take courses in a major programming language before applying to the program. Competency in a programming language will be tested upon arrival.

Students are required to take the following courses:

The following classes are strongly recommended as elective courses:

The following classes may be used as electives to fill out the remaining credits:

Other classes, including those from other departments (including Computer Science, Psychology, Management and Information Science, and Electrical and Computer Engineering) may also be used as electives with the permission of the HLT director and the Graduate Advisor if they are appropriate to the student's plan of study

Internship in Lieu of Thesis.

The internship (LING593) is taken in lieu of a master's thesis (minimum 6, maximum 9 units). The report associated with the internship must be of a quality comparable to that of a master's thesis.

All the units of the internship need not be taken at the same time or with the same hosting agency. It may be broken down into smaller projects with minimum of 1 unit per project (45 work hours each) to total at least 6 units of internship overall.

Please see the document Policies, Procedures and Best Practice Guidelines for Internships: LING593 Internship in Human Language Technology for further details on the internship.

Scheduling:

LING538 should be taken in the FALL of the first year
LING581 should be taken in the SPRING of the first year
LING539 should be taken in the SPRING of the first year
LING582 should be taken in the FALL of the second year
LING593 (internship) should be completed during the summer between Years 1 and 2. The final report should be completed no later than a month before the end of the final semester in which the student is enrolled.

A student taking the recommended three course load per semester, who completes the internship in the summer, should be able to complete the program in two years (with a light final semester).

A student taking a four course load per semester, who completes the internship in the summer, should be able to complete the program in a year and a half, also with a light final semester.

The department strongly discourages taking more than 4 courses a semester.

TA Training:

Although Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA) are very rare for HLT students, students are nevertheless required to take the same teacher training (including both graduate college and departmental programs) and orientations as all other students in the department. This serves a dual function: (1) it ensures that the student meets the minimum university and departmental requirements for TA training, should a GTA position become available. (2) It allows the HLT students to meet and become familiar with graduate students in other linguistics programs. Attendance at these training sessions is not optional!

Other Requirements and Regulations.

In addition to the requirements listed here, students should consult two other departmental documents, both of which contain important information for students in the Linguistics Department:

The Graduate College Handbook
The Policies Procedures and Best Practice Guidelines for Internships: LING539 Internship in HLT

Both these documents are available on the department website.