M.A. in Linguistics at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Linguistics Master's Program at Ben-Gurion University

Get the Big Picture on Small Words

There are so many questions that are still left unanswered regarding the functions of the brain whenever people speak, hear or read words, study new languages or make grocery lists. Ben-Gurion University M.A. in Linguistics track can shed a light on these matters and on much more.

Study Program

While BGU's undergraduate program in Linguistics mainly presented students with the fundamentals of the field and its sub-categories – syntax, morphology, semantics and language acquisition, the master's track focuses almost exclusively on researches published in the past 15 years. Students learn of recent discoveries and are encouraged to take part in existing researches in the department or start their own.

The program offers thesis and non-thesis tracks. Students in the non-thesis track may choose a combined M.A. in linguistics and foreign literatures. In this track students must take at least two courses from each major and pass a final exam.

Study Structure

The Master's program in Linguistics is two years long in both thesis and non-thesis tracks. All courses are in English. Students in the research (thesis) track must take the methodology course during their first year as well as finding an advisor and handing in their proposal before the end of the first year. Students of the non-thesis track must pass a final take-home exam at the end of their studies.

Curriculum

* Degree Modifiers (semantics)
* Frontal Lobe in Language
* Cognitive Neuroscience
* Phonological, Syntactic and Semantic Processing
* Methodology in Lingual Research
* Conditionals and Probability

Faculty

The faculty at Ben-Gurion University includes: a philosopher who is an expert in computational linguistics; a specialist in information structure whose books were published by Oxford University Press; a lexical semantics expert who completed her PhD in MIT; a cognitive neuroscientist who published several articles about feelings and language in autism; and others.

Admissions

Candidates must complete their undergraduate degree in linguistics, neural sciences, behavioral sciences or other related areas and have a GPA of 80 (3.0) or above. The thesis track requires an average of 85 (3.2). In case students do not have the required background they will be asked to pass some tests of B.A. courses although they are not necessarily required to attend them. Students who did not complete their B.A. studies in an English speaking program are required to pass an English proficiency test.

Academic Diploma

Graduates receive a M.A. degree in Linguistics from Ben-Gurion University.