Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics: Theoretical and Applied Linguistics at University of Cambridge

The Linguistics Department is unique in the UK because it integrates theoretical and applied linguistics in a single academic unit. The Linguistics Department provides great variety and flexibility in course contents, subject-specific training, and diversity of intellectual interactions. PhD topics in the range of research specialisms represented in the Department and beyond the Department in the MMLL Faculty are accepted.

Faculty: School of Arts and Humanities  |  Department: Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics  |  Duration: 3-4 years full-time; 4-7 years part-time  |  Study mode: full-time  |  Intake: January 2027, October 2027, January 2028  |  Location: Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

What you will study

In British universities, the PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) is traditionally awarded solely on the basis of a thesis, a substantial piece of writing that reports original research into a closely defined area of enquiry. Within linguistics, some PhD students may do most of their work in libraries, spend part of their time collecting and analysing fieldwork data, or carry out experiments in the phonetics laboratory or psycholinguistics laboratory. Thesis / Dissertation There is a normal word limit for the thesis of 80,000 words (including footnotes, references and appendices but excluding bibliography).

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