Department of English Linguistics, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest

We are the Department of English Linguistics, the linguists of the School of English and American Studies at Eötvös Loránd University. We run courses in linguistics, primarily for BA and MA students majoring in English, as well as students of the English Linguistics doctoral programme. Our research includes laboratory phonology, phonological theories, the phonology of English and Hungarian, morphology, syntactic theories, the syntax of English and other languages, and the history of English. The department hosts the doctoral programme in English linguistics, the Budapest Research Centre in Linguistic Theory (a.k.a. NYEKK), the annual Össznyelvész conference, and publishes the biennial journal The Even Yearbook since 1994.

delg@delg0.elte.hu
+36 1 4855200 x 4407
Rákóczi út 5, 1088 Budapest, Hungary
secretary R301, head R449

minutes of department meetings

Linguistics is concerned with natural language. Theoretical linguistics is theory driven: it looks at natural language in a principled way. Statements made by a theory have testable consequences, therefore theories are refutable. This restricts the set of possible statements in theoretical linguistics. If you are interested in what such statements are like, how they can be construed and developed, you may consider specializing in theoretical linguistics. You may also opt for us if you are interested in the history of English from Indo-European times to our days, how the language has changed from Beowulf, through Chaucer to Shakespeare and beyond, or if you want to get to know more about the current varieties of the modern lingua franca of the world.

We are expecting students interested in perennial problems like

• what is language?
• what do we know when we know a language?
• how is language structured?
• in what way are all human languages the same?
• in what way are they different?
• how does language change?

Our expertise includes

• phonetics (acoustic, laboratory phonetics)
• phonology (generative, government, strict CV, paradigm-based; syllable structure, stress, intonation, accents of English)
• morphology
• syntax (descriptive, non-generative, government & binding, optimality, minimalist, alignment; word order and scope, possession, gerund)
• history of English (Old English, Chaucer’s, Shakespeare’s language, etymology)

If you are a BA student without a minor subject, you may take the so-called pick-and-choose specialization track, which offers you courses in linguistics. If you do have a minor subject, you can only spend your 7 free credits on such courses. You may select a linguistic topic for your thesis.

For MA students specialization in linguistics means that except for 4 nonlinguistic courses in the first two terms your whole curriculum comprises such courses.

You may apply for teaching assistantship at our department if you have completed at least two terms of linguistic studies at SEAS. Applications are usually collected in June.

For graduates we offer the PhD programme in English linguistics.