UNM Department of Linguistics

Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam and Reading Lists

Upon completion (or during the last semester) of your required coursework and prior to embarking on the dissertation, you must pass a doctoral comprehensive examination. This examination is not limited to the areas of your coursework, but tests your grasp of the field as a whole. You must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 at the time of the examination.

You must set the dates of the comprehensive examination in consultation with your committee on studies. An "Announcement of Examination" form must be processed at least two weeks prior to the date of the examination.
Examination Areas. This exam will cover three broad areas selected by you from the following list of eleven areas:

• Phonology and phonetics
• Morphology
• Syntax
• Semantics
• Pragmatics and discourse structure
• Language contact and bilingualism
• Language variation and change
• Language acquisition
• Language and cognition
• Computational linguistics
• Applied linguistics (e.g. language policy, educational applications)

In conjunction with the committee on studies, you will develop a reading list with an appropriate depth and breadth for addressing each topic. You should plan to have read the contents of the lists by the time of the examination.

The committee on studies will set the questions and determine the form of the exam. The usual format is a series of three take-home exams, allowing three days for each area; responses of 10-12 double-spaced pages per area are typical.

The results of the examination must be reported to OGS on the "Report of Examination" form. Each committee member also completes the department's "Assessment of Doctoral Comprehensive Examination" form for student outcomes assessment.

Barring extraordinary circumstances, you will be notified of the results of the examination no later than two weeks after the date on which it was completed. If you fail the examination, a second examination must be administered within one calendar year from the date of the first. The doctoral comprehensive examination may be taken only twice.