Linguistics is the systematic study of the nature and the use of language. This involves examining the structures of languages, the uses of language, the ways in which languages differ and those properties which they have in common. Theories about language and its uses in society are studied and evaluated, and various applications of linguistics and linguistic knowledge are covered. Postgraduate linguistics at Monash focuses in particular upon sociolinguistics (language in society), discourse studies and the applications of linguistics to language issues (including the teaching and learning of languages, literacy, bilingualism, language policies, language planning etc).
The school accepts suitably qualified candidates for research degrees in linguistics (PhD or MA). For further information on the PhD and research masters in linguistics, see http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ling/pgstudy.html.
Monash staff in the linguistics program have expertise in a number of areas of linguistics, including anthropological linguistics; applied linguistics; Australian Aboriginal languages; Australian English; Austronesian languages; bilingualism and multilingualism; child language acquisition; cognitive linguistics; comparative and contrastive linguistics; computers in linguistic research; conversational analysis; cross-cultural communication; dialectology; discourse analysis; functional grammar; historical linguistics; language and discrimination; language description and documentation; language attitudes; language attrition; language contact; language ecology; language maintenance and shift; language planning and policy; language typology; literacy development; morphology and morphosyntax; New and Other Englishes; phonetics (acoustic and articulatory); phonology; politeness phenomena; pragmatics; prosody and meaning; second language acquisition; semantics; sociolinguistics; syntax.
In addition, there is close collaboration with linguists in other programs within the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics who may have skills not represented within the linguistics program. Co-supervision can be arranged where it will be beneficial to a postgraduate student.
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