Welcome!

The Department of Linguistics at Stony Brook University is an internationally recognized center for cutting-edge research and comprehensive training across all areas of modern linguistics.

The department has a strong and long-standing focus on theoretical linguistics, with core research areas including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, language disorders, signed languages, and first and second language acquisition. In addition, we bring deep knowledge of a wide range of language families and regions, including Austronesian, East Asian, South Asian, Romance, Semitic, Slavic, and signed languages.

We have recently revamped and updated our laboratories, so that we now have two new Experimental Linguistics laboratories, a Computational Linguistics lab, and a Sign Language lab, enhancing opportunities for both faculty and student research. Our vibrant intellectual community is further enriched by interdisciplinary collaborations with scholars across the university, including in the Institute for Advanced Computational Science (IACS) and the Departments of Psychology, Philosophy, Mathematics, Computer Science, Hispanic Languages, Asian Studies, and Languages and Cultural Studies.

Stony Brook Linguistics is one of only a few Linguistics departments that offers 3 stand-alone Linguistics degrees (BA, MA, and PhD) and teacher certification in TESOL. Our PhD includes specialization in theoretical linguistics, computational linguistics, language acquisition and change, and language disorders. We offer an MA in Linguistics, an MA in Computational Linguistics, an MA in TESOL, along with 4 BA-MA programs combining a Linguistics major with a second major (French, Italian, or Spanish) plus TESOL teacher certification. Our very popular undergraduate major and minor in Linguistics include optional specialized pathways in TESOL, Speech and Language Pathology, and Computational Linguistics, preparing students for a wide range of academic and professional pathways.