General Linguistics

The doctoral study of general linguistics opens for the students a way to know and understand the functioning of language both in its general form and in the form of concrete material.

The doctoral study proceeds either via non-specialized branch or in a specialized way: Experimental and applied linguistics. Specialization Experimental and Applied Linguistics is focused on the deeper acquisition of soft and hard skills in the areas of experimental and formal approaches to natural language (it is organized by main academic departments with linguistic orientation: Department of Czech language, Department of linguistics and Baltic languages, Department of English and American studies, Department of Romance studies and Department of German studies). In the specialization, the program is much more focused on formal and data-oriented approaches to linguistic data from natural languages (approaches to the semantic or dialectal variation of linguistic data, their statistical modeling, or to corpus linguistics used as a source of primary generalizations, etc.). The specialization aims both at theoretical frameworks but to practical issues too (e.g. questions connected to the ethical aspects of experimental research in linguistics a.o.). In the specialized branch, students acquire much more formalized and natural sciences oriented description of the natural language.

The students will be introduced to modern as well as traditional linguistic methods and their application. The objective of the doctoral follow-up study of general linguistics is to enlarge the knowledge, principles, and methodologies the students have acquired either in the master program of general linguistics or of another philological subject.

It is therefore intended for those feeling a need to deepen and enlarge their knowledge, particularly with the prospect for their future scientific career, but also for any other career requiring the understanding of the functioning of language and thinking connected with it.

The students follow an individual study plan, framed up by their supervisor and oriented toward a concrete methodological development and linguistic analysis. The study is single-subject only.

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• analyze the structure of natural language, particularly in the area of their specialization
• independently describe and analyze language material using an appropriate method
• offer their innovative scientific contribution to the field (in their specialization)
• (specialization): use modern experimental methods (on the natural language material)
• (specialization): understand even advance statistical methods for analysis of linguistic data
• (specialization): to understand up-to-date formal linguistic theories and test their predictions via experimental methods
• (specialization): to evaluate the research program with respect to its ethical impacts

The graduates are prepared for an academic career in philological subjects on Czech and foreign universities and academies of sciences. In the course of the study the students are required to publish several papers and attend European and Czech conferences. Therefore, they are also prepared for working up a larger amount of information and for being able to present themselves convincingly on international forums. Generally, they are prepared to lead their own independent scientific inquiry, both in basic and applied research. In addition, they are required to lead a certain minimal number of their own courses, making them prepared also for teaching.

An integral part of the study is publishing papers (in the extent given by the individual study program) and teaching at least one term course.

The extent and form of the PhD thesis follow the study regulations of Masaryk University. An important prerequirement is the preparation of a PhD thesis proposal.

By writing a PhD thesis the students must demonstrate their knowledge of the current state of the field and of the adequate methodology as well as provide their own innovation both in the methodology and understanding of the topic under study.