A PhD in Linguistics enables you to undertake a substantial piece of supervised research in the subject that makes an original contribution to knowledge and is worthy of publication.

A PhD, also known as a doctorate, is a requirement for a career as an academic or researcher. In addition, it has become a qualification valued by many employers who recognise the skills and commitment a PhD requires. Employers also recognise that a PhD indicates excellent research capabilities, discipline and communication skills.

Over the duration of the PhD, you produce an original piece of research of up to 100,000 words.

Current PhD projects include: ‘Prosody of Language and Music’, ‘Mapping the Musical Rhythms of Autistic Speech’, ‘Arpitan: A Study of An Emerging Linguistic Variety’, ‘It's A Funny Old World: The Construction of Possible Worlds in Jokes and Stand-up Comedy’ and ‘Investigating and Defining Urdu Phonology and its Role and Use in L2 (English) Perception and Production’.

The Department of English Language and Linguistics offers supervision from world-class academics with expertise in a wide range of disciplines, able to support and guide you through your research. Your progress is carefully monitored to ensure that you are on track to produce a thesis that is valued by the academic community. Throughout your programme, you are able to attend and contribute to research seminars, workshops, and research and transferable skills training courses.

You may be eligible for a fully-funded PhD scholarship to support your studies with us. The PhD in Linguistics at Kent can be funded through the South East Network for Social Sciences (SeNSS) Doctoral Training Centre, or through the Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts South-East England (CHASE) collaborative doctoral partnerships. Please indicate in your application if you want to be considered for any of these programmes, and explain your eligibility for the chosen scheme. For the full list of scholarships available within the School, please see our postgraduate scholarship page.