Czech Language

The aim of the Ph.D. study programme Czech Language and Literature is to prepare graduates for a career in the academic sphere or in commercial sphere, at positions where a high qualification is required with the specialization in the field of linguistics (theoretical approaches to translation, locating and creating software applications etc.). During their studies, students will get acquainted with theoretical approaches to modern linguistics that reflect the structure of Czech from both synchronic and diachronic viewpoints. The Ph.D. study programme is organized within several sections corresponding to the scholarly orientation of members of the Department of Czech Language (linguistics from the synchronic viewpoint, linguistics from the diachronic viewpoint or corpus/computer linguistics). Ph.D. students are required to participate in work of several of the sections, within which they work on their Ph.D. projects. Besides acquiring knowledge from the sphere of contemporary linguistics, they also learn elementary techniques of linguistic work (use of a specific linguistic methodology, use of sources, evaluation of linguistic data, presentations of their own research in oral or printed forms, defending results of their research, team work). Under the supervision of experts, students in higher courses of the Ph.D. study programme participate in teaching at the Department of Czech Language, thus gaining elementary competences of a university teacher.

Within the Ph.D. programme focused on Czech language it is possible to take two specialized study plans:

1. The specialization Historical Languages of the Czech Lands is organized on the basis of Latin-German-Czech character (carried out by the Department of Classical Studies, by the Department of German, Scandinavian and Netherland Studies and by the Department of Czech Language). It is aimed at students interested in Paleo-Bohemistics from the linguistic point of view, presenting Old Czech in the proper Latin-German-Czech context. The aim of this specialization is to provide students with the possibility to get a complex insight into medieval literature from the viewpoint of theoretical approaches to both literature and language.

2. The specialization Experimental and applied linguistics is aimed at deepening the knowledge and skills in the sphere of using experimental methods and methods applying formal approaches to the natural languages (organized by the main linguistically orientated academic institutions: Department of Czech Language, Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages, Department of English and American Studies, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, Department of German, Scandinavian and Netherland Studies). It is aimed at students interested in linguistics focused on the observation of language data and on their processing using mathematic methods and on theoretical issues relating to the application of formal methods on the material from the sphere of natural languages.

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

• to analyze linguistic data within a selected theoretical framework;
• to deal with practical issues on the basis of theoretical knowledge of how language works (e.g. in the sphere of software products);
• to formulate relevant hypotheses and to check them empirically;
• to interpret selected features of Czech from the typological point of view;
• to share their knowledge of the particular discipline in pedagogical activities, lectures and published works;
• to work in a team of scholars;
• to solve independently new scholarly tasks, using reliable sources;
• to conduct a long-term independent research (including the possibility to participate in long-term projects or in conducting them);
• graduates from the specialization Historical Languages of the Czech Lands will be able to describe and apply approaches of textual criticism to medieval manuscripts;
• graduates from the specialization Historical Languages of the Czech Lands will be able to know elementary features of the particular land language;
• graduates from the specialization Historical Languages of the Czech Lands will be able to know elementary features of the particular land literature;
• graduates from the specialization Experimental and applied linguistics will be able to use results of statistical processing of linguistic data for research purposes;
• graduates from the specialization Experimental and applied linguistics will be able to evaluate an intention of their research with regard to the ethical aspects.
• graduates from the specialization Experimental and applied linguistics will be able to get orientated in available sources of data relating to linguistic research and to evaluate relevance of the available sources of data for specific research tasks.

Graduates are experts with the knowledge of Czech as a “system” and/or as a form of human behaviour. They are able to hold positions in an academic community focused on studying and/or teaching Czech or in disciplines orientated on language in general and on its applications, respectively (i.e. they are able to hold positions of university teachers, of independent research workers or development workers). Depending on the topic of their doctoral thesis, graduates are also ready to fulfil specialized tasks at various memorial institutions where the knowledge of history and/or of present-day state of language is required, especially with regard to their sources of information and to the information databases (graduates are able to create information databases, to work in departments dealing with manuscripts or as curators of collections of written sources/digital databases).

Instructions relating to formal aspects of a Ph.D. thesis, its minimum extent and the procedure of submitting follow current instructions of Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University. Ph.D. students are expected to submit their thesis at the end of the eighth semester, thus completing their project on the basis of which they started their Ph.D. studies. The aim of a Ph.D. thesis is to deal independently and in an innovative way with a specific linguistic topic. In their Ph.D. thesis, Ph.D. students reflect the present-day state of knowledge of the particular issues, on the basis of which they clearly formulate the topic of the thesis, suggest adequate research methods, collect, evaluate and critically analyze data, summarizing the results, putting them into a wider context of the discipline and explicitly state how their work deepens, enlarges, correct or negates the existing knowledge. A Ph.D. thesis is the key subject of the Ph.D. study programme, as Ph.D. students are preparing it during the whole period of their Ph.D. studies. Working on their thesis, Ph.D. students get the knowledge, skills and competences of an independent research worker.