Portfolio Program- Romance Linguistics

Karina High (French and Italian): Historial Linguistics

James Law (French and Italian): Historical Semantics

Adriano Trovato (Spanish and Portuguese): Sociology and Phonetics

Emily Martin (French and Italian): Romance Linguistics and Linguitic Theory

Current Participants

Piero Visconte (Spanish and Portuguese), Historical Linguistics

Edward García Gómez (French and Italian), Applied Linguistics

Students, including students from departments with no faculty representatives in the program, can enter the Portfolio Program in Romance Linguistics at any point in their graduate career. However, they are required to take a prerequisite course: Introduction to Romance Linguistics. A waiver may be granted by the program executive committee to students who have taken comparable courses in other institutions or demonstrate adequate proficiency in these subjects.

Students interested in participating into the program must complete an application form and submit a statement of purpose, which will include:

• The student’s interests in the program;
• A rationale for pursuing a specialization in Romance Linguistics. Possible specializations include major subfields of linguistics, such as Historical Linguistics, Phonetics, Phonology, Pragmatics, Semantics, Sociolinguistics, Syntax, Typology, Language Acquisition, Applied Linguistics;
• A clear statement explaining the importance of this type of program and specialization for the student’s graduate program and career goals;
• A list of six possible courses that form the proposed specialization;
• The signature of the student’s faculty adviser and departmental Graduate Advisor.
• Applications will be reviewed by the program supervisor and the executive committee.
• Students are recommended to discuss their plans with the program Director as they prepare their application statement.

Application Form

Completed application materials may be e-mailed to Dr. Cinzia Russi, Program Director

The Doctoral Portfolio Program in Romance Linguistics is administered by Dr. Cinzia Russi (French and Italian) in conjunction with the Portfolio Executive Committee. The Portfolio Executive Committee must approve each student’s specialization and certify the completion of the portfolio.

In order to complete the Doctoral Portfolio Program in Romance Linguistics, students are required to:

• Take a prerequisite course: Introduction to Romance Liguistics. A waiver may be granted by the program exective committee to students who have taken comparable courses in other institutions or demonstrate adequate proficiency in this subject.       
• Complete four thematically related courses, for a total of twelve credit hours in approved graduate-level courses. These twelve credit hours can include three hours from one independent study (Conference Course) or directed reading with an affiliated faculty member. Under recommendation of the program supervisor and upon approval of the executive committee, three of the twelve credit hours can be at the undergraduate upper-division level.  Two courses must be taken outside the students' home department.
• Complete a capstone research project in their area of specialization, which will be presented at a departmental colloquium or an appropriate symposium or conference. The research paper will then be submitted to and approved by the Portfolio Executive Committee.
• Provide updates on their progress to the Department of French and Italian every semester. Students who work on a Romance language for their doctoral research are expected to focus on a different Romance language for their portfolio capstone project.
• Seek approval for their completed portfolio from the Portfolio Executive Committee.

List of Approved Courses

Participating Faculty and Departments