Doctoral Degrees in Linguistics

[french_preppy]

So I've been reading a lot about PhD Degrees in Humanities (Specifically anything French related), and the overwhelming consensus from professors and articles have been similar to this article: " Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don't Go". But, while I am interested in French, I am actually much more interested in the Linguistics side of

Comments

[tsuyogari]

Linguistics is usually lumped in with humanities, but these days it's started to be considered more of a pseudoscience.

I think the job market depends on what you specialize in. If you're looking in academia, most fields in the humanities are hugely competitive and often fruitless. However, if you do something like Computational Linguistics, you can do research in computer applications, language software, things like that. Translation is of course a possibility. And, what I plan on doing (I'm applying to Applied Linguistics programs for Fall 2010), is teaching and communications. TESOL is not the goldmine it used to be, but it's still a relatively new and growing field, especially in the US.

[muckefuck]

I'm not sure what it was you meant to say, but I truly hope it wasn't really pseudoscience!

One of my colleagues used to refer to it as, "The most scientific of the humanities and the humanistic of the sciences." It was classed with the humanities at my institution whereas history was considered a social science; I think other places might have done exactly the opposite.

[tsuyogari]

Haha, sorry. That's what the faculty at my school (jokingly) call it all the time, that I kinda forgot it's not the usual usage.

[french_preppy]

You've piqued my interest.
Do you any Unis (American or otherwise), that have PhDs in Computational Linguistics?

[tsuyogari]

Georgetown, University of Maryland, Carnegie Mellon, and University of Texas are the ones that come to mind.

[ein_wunderkind]

It should be noted however that linguistics is meaningless for translation/interpretation (as in not necessary). And the job market is extremely bad in the USA, except for Spanish and certain languages specific to large immigrant communities.

[flamingophoenix]

I agree that linguistics is not relevant to translation/interpretation. However, a solid foundation in linguistics can make it easier for somebody to learn a new language, especially one different from the one they grew up speaking. (For example, it's difficult for native English speakers to learn Pashto without understanding what ergativity is.)

[dark_age_pearl]

It's not a pseudoscience. Linguistics is actually a subfield of anthropology. In my university, it's in the same building as psychology, but categorically it's an anthropological study.

I don't know what the job market is like, even though I should. Last year I changed my major to linguistics.

[muckefuck]

Some universities may class it as such, but there's certainly no compelling reason to do so. After all, it grew out of philology, which in modern terms is more akin to textual criticism than anything else.

[dark_age_pearl]

I guess it's one of those things that can be put under several different fields, depending on what your focus is. Thanks for the insight.