There are four 400-level courses that are typically part of the MA core that students with some prior study of these areas may wish to be exempted from. These are:
- Ling 410: Articulatory Phonetics
- Ling 420: Morphology
- Ling 421: Introduction to Phonological Analysis
- Ling 422: Introduction to Grammatical Analysis
If you wish to seek exemption from any of the courses listed above, you must meet with the faculty member in charge of exemption for the course on the Monday or Tuesday of the week prior to the first day of instruction. The faculty member in charge of the exemption for the course is usually the most recent instructor of the course. During this meeting you must provide the instructor with the syllabus from your prior course, and be prepared to discuss course content and possibly be quizzed on course materials. The instructor may require you to take and pass an exemption exam with a grade of at least B. After an evaluation of your submitted materials, your discussion with the instructor, and the results of your exemption exam (if applicable), the instructor will then decide to either:
- exempt you from the class, or
- not exempt you from the class, or
- require you to audit the entire class or a portion of the class; the instructor will inform you of requirements for a successful audit.
You must notify the department secretary no later than August 1st (for Fall) and December 1st (for Spring) of your intention to seek exemption from a course. The secretary will coordinate a meeting with the faculty member in charge of the exemption.
Exemption exams, if deemed required by the instructor, are held during the week prior to the first day of instruction and are scheduled in two hour blocks. If you are required to take one or more of these exams, you must notify the Department secretary immediately after your meeting with the faculty member in charge of the exemption which exam(s) you are going to take. The secretary will schedule your exemption exam(s). All exemption exams must be completed no later than Wednesday of the first week of classes. If you are required to take the exemption exam you should attend the course until your exam has been graded and an exemption has been granted.
Instructors must provide exemption documentation or exam grades to the Graduate Chair and relevant students no later than the day before the last day to add classes. You may take any given exemption exam only once. Should you not pass an exam, you must take the relevant course at the first availability, i.e., the same semester if the course is offered (if not, the following semester).
If you intend to seek exemption(s), you must make every effort to do so within the first year of your program.