UNOFFICIAL MANUAL OF SAGE ADVICEproduced under the auspices of

THE ARIZONA LINGUISTICS CIRCLE

A handbook to train novice crafters of speech-lore in the Sonoran desert.

Redacted from the collective wisdom of the Arizona Linguistics Circleby Kevin Schluter and Megan Stone

(featuring Colin "The Burden" Gorrie)

Revised March 2010

"Let your plans be dark and as impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like athunderbolt," Sun Tzu (n.d.)

So you're somewhere between thinking of applying to UA and filing your thesis ordissertation. This guide is for you (and even may be useful for those of you who decide UAisn't the place for you, or didn't win the acceptance lottery. Don't feel bad; applicationdecisions are rough when there are a hundred applicants and only so much money to fundpeople. Things depend, for better or for worse, on a lot of factors beyond your control likethe makeup of the admissions committee, the quality and quantity of other applicants,etc.). Take this information with a grain of salt, it may not all work for you. We'recompiling information from UA graduate students, both new and old, to try to give everyonea better picture of the graduate career at UA. Some of this won't be relevant to everyone; ithas a heavy Linguistics PhD program slant. This information doesn't come directly from thefaculty or the University of Arizona. It was collected from the experience of U of A linguisticsstudents past and present. It may be incorrect or contradictory at times. That's the natureof the beast. Out hope is that these words of wisdom might help prepare you for success inobtaining your degree in this department and for your career afterward.

Please send comments, updates, or corrections to (kts@email.arizona.edu).

I. Making your decision .......................................................................... 3Funding.......................................................................................... 3Admission/Graduation Statistics......................................................... 3

II. Getting to, and around in, Tucson ....................................................... 5Flying............................................................................................. 5Cabs .............................................................................................. 5Buses............................................................................................. 5CatTran.......................................................................................... 5Drivin' ............................................................................................ 6Biking ............................................................................................ 6

III. Before you arrive ................................................................................ 6Your last semester before coming to Arizona ....................................... 6Reading list..................................................................................... 7

General ....................................................................................... 7Graduate School ........................................................................... 7

Specific Subfields............................................................................. 8Syntax ........................................................................................ 8Morphology .................................................................................. 8Phonology.................................................................................... 8Phonetics ..................................................................................... 8Psycholinguistics ........................................................................... 9Computational .............................................................................. 9

Statistics ..................................................................................... 9Housing.......................................................................................... 9Calling the department ....................................................................10Planning your schedule....................................................................10Fellowships ....................................................................................10

A note about the FLAS ..................................................................11Mailing lists....................................................................................11

IV. General comments ............................................................................ 12Your background ............................................................................12

International students ..................................................................12What’s eating students from elsewhere? .........................................13Tucsonans ..................................................................................13Coming with a BA in Linguistics......................................................14Entering the PhD program with a non-linguistics BA..........................14Coming with an MA in Linguistics ...................................................15

Tucson living (Extracurriculars).........................................................16Healthcare ..................................................................................17Biking in Tucson ..........................................................................18

ALC conference ..............................................................................19Coyote papers ................................................................................19Lab groups ....................................................................................19Department library(s)......................................................................19Cave, tour of, and other departmental spaces.....................................20TAing, problems with students while..................................................20TAing, rooms and equipment............................................................20

V. Advice............................................................................................... 21Developing relationships and finding mentors .....................................21Advisors and mentors......................................................................21Start research early ........................................................................21Make each term paper count ............................................................22Help out ........................................................................................22Collaborate ....................................................................................22Build that CV..................................................................................22Languages .....................................................................................23Budgeting your finances ..................................................................25Fellowship semesters, summers, and other "down time" ......................25Funding.........................................................................................25Branding yourself ...........................................................................25

VI. Programmes and their requirements ................................................ 26Petitions: exceptions to the rules .........................................................26

Ling PhD........................................................................................26Initial coursework and the Core Courses..........................................27Choosing an advisor .....................................................................27Choosing a major/minor ...............................................................27Comprehensive Exams..................................................................28Masters along the way ..................................................................28Associate Status ..........................................................................29Orals..........................................................................................29Prospectus ..................................................................................29The Big D....................................................................................29Job Applications / Post docs...........................................................30

ANLI .............................................................................................30Programme Structure ...................................................................30Early Stages................................................................................30

Comprehensive Exams..................................................................31Linguistics Exam ..........................................................................31Anthropology Exam......................................................................31Oral Exams .................................................................................32Funding Opportunities and Resources .............................................32Surviving ANLI ............................................................................33

HLT ..............................................................................................35Before you start...........................................................................35Timeline .....................................................................................35Two worlds .................................................................................35

NAMA............................................................................................35Requirements ..............................................................................35Culture .......................................................................................35Research ....................................................................................36

Making your decision

Funding

In general, people pay for a MA but not a PhD. You work for the department half-time topay your tuition and living expenses. This can be as a teaching assistant, research assistant,or some administrative position.

HLT and NAMA students probably won't have any funding from the department. HLTstudents may be elligible for department funding or other sources. HLT students tend to gethigh-paying jobs as well, so paying for grad school isn't a burden. Some NAMA studentsenter with tribal funding, but most admitted NAMA students are eligible for University ofArizona diversity funding; in fact, all of our NAMA students have secured this funding, andit's great funding by the way--includes fellowships and free tuition.

The typical funding package that Linguistics at Arizona offers PhD students is a four-yearguarantee. The faculty and staff work very hard to fund people in a fifth year and thosewho were not guaranteed money, but it is dependent on money; as of 2010 money is scarcebut they have been quite successful. We expect this situation to get better in the future. Ifyou're not offered funding, you may be able to fund your graduate studies via teaching inanother department or something similar, but that's not much of a guarantee. Think longand hard about how you'll fund yourself if you're not given a guarantee. Money worries canbe the worst, and you'll have plenty of other stress without them, but the department isvery committed to funding students.

ANLI students are fund by both departments. Because of this, it can seem like a bit of amystery, even to ANLI students at times.

Admission/Graduation Statistics

We think our department is pretty awesome. The numbers below prove it.

HLT Matriculation/Enrollment rate

Year HLTapplicants

HLTAdmitted

HLTenrolled

2006 2 2 12007 7 5 42008 4 2 12009 6 2 0

NAMA Matriculation/Enrollment rateYear NAMA

applicantsNAMAAdmitted

NAMAenrolled

2001 4 4 22002 1 0 02003 1 1 12004 4 3 22005 2 0 02006 4 2 22007 5 3 32008 4 2 12009 8 2 2

Ph.D. Linguistics Matriculation/Enrollment rateYear Ph.D.

ApplicantsPh.D.’sAdmitted

Ph.D.’senrolled

2001 57 18 82002 47 16 52003 43 14 82004 45 14 82005 64 12 62006 50 11 52007 60 17 72008 79 26 152009 77 10 2

ANLI Matriculation/Enrollment rateYear ANLI

applicantsANLI’sAdmitted

ANLI’senrolled

200110 5 2200211 5 1200310 3 020048 1 120059 3 0200612 1 0200712 5 3200814 3 2200917 4 1

Job Placement: Chart representing a comparison between our peer programs and us withrespect to job placement records of our graduates.

Job Placement Comparison, 2001-2007Program Number of PhDs Academic job placementMIT 11 90.3%UCLA 7 75.6%UMass 31 90.3%NYU 16 75%UBC No data available No data availableUA 32 90.3%

Getting to, and around in, Tucson

Flying

Everyone's flight situations are different, so you'll need to look into which airlines have thebest options for visiting family regularly. Flying into Phoenix is quite possible, since airportshuttles do exist. It takes around 2 hours on the shuttle, but there is a stop near campus.The Tucson airport has fewer flights and less chance of a direct flight, but it's much easier toask for rides to/from the airport and it has free wifi (or still did in 2010). It's well worthcomparing prices though, as the price of a trip to Phoenix can be the same as the differencebetween the Phoenix/Tucson tickets. Many people prefer the convenience of the Tucsonairport whenever possible, particularly if you can get a nonstop; the extra $40 can be worthit.

Cabs

Cabs usually work in Tucson, but can be expensive and hard to get a hold of at times. Goodfor getting home in a pinch, but I wouldn't rely on 'em regularly. Your mileage may vary.

Buses

Many people take advantage of the city’s SunTran bus system. Check out their website forschedule and route information (http://www.suntran.com/). Students have differentopinions about the friendliness of the bus system. Some routes may make you feel more orless 'safe' than others, so we recommend that you try your route a time or two beforecommitting to the bus pass. The U of A does offer discount passes, though, for semester,school year, and calendar year, which makes riding the bus a much more pocketbook-friendly form of transportation than driving.

CatTran

The University offers a very convenient shuttle to a variety of stops off campus. To see amap of the shuttle stops and stop times, go to http://parking.arizona.edu/alternative/cattran.php and click on the link “CatTran Spring/Summer/Fall Service Guide”. This option

is cheaper than on-campus parking and convenient for commuters.

Drivin'

There are 3 or 4 parking garages within a reasonable distance of Douglass. You’ll need tobuy a parking pass, which can be done at the Parking and Transportation Services Building,1117 E. Sixth Street. For 2010-1011, Garage Permits will be around $550; lot-specificparking permits are around $350. Motorcycle permits are only about $100. There is alsolimited street parking in the neighborhoods around campus (make sure to check the signs –a lot of parking is for residents only). Check the U of A Parking and Transportation websiteat http://parking.arizona.edu/ for additional information.

Biking

Tucson is considered a bike friendly town, at least by American standards, and, particularly,the areas around the university are accessible to bikes. That said, keep safety in mind. Inthe city, there are two ways to bike:

1. On nearly all the main roads, there are beautiful bike lanes. These roads are smoothsailing, so you can get your road bike up to top speed. But you have to be ultra-careful, both at night and by day, of being left-hooked and right-hooked, becausepractically no car drivers pay attention to bikes on the main roads.

2. Bike routes on side streets are great ways to get around. The author uses them allthe time, and generally feels much safer on them than on main roads. Many of themare in terrible shape for road bikes, but some are not so bad, and official bike routeshave fewer stop signs than other side streets. Be sure to know where the badpotholes are before riding side streets at night: ride them in the day first!(Incidentally, this also applies to walking. Sidewalks are uneven, end abruptly, andare sometimes overgrown by dangerous plants.)

See the "Tucson Living (Extracurriculars)" section of this document for more informationabout biking tips (especially bike safety) and opportunities in the area.

Before you arrive

Your last semester before coming to Arizona

Graduate school is your time to specialize. If you've decided to go to graduate school andyou have one round of courses left in your undergraduate or BA program, its often a goodidea to take a course or two for breadth. It could be stats, a language class, that intro topsych you never took, or a wide look at the language sciences with neighboring disciplineslike sociology, anthropology, or speech and hearing sciences. You'll have plenty of time tospecialize in grad school, but you won't have much time for breadth outside thedepartment's core course requirements: if you have the time now make use of it.

Reading list

Some people, after accepting, would like to spend their summer doing a little pre-reading,either in an area they'd like to specialize in, know nothing about, or just want to brush upon. There are a few popular audience works out there that are accessable and might serveas a good introduction, particularly for students who may not be coming from a Linguisticsdepartment or degree. Check 'em out from the library, but they might not be referencesyou really want on your shelf. Read them critically; not every linguist espouses all thetenets these books do, but they do represent an opinion in line with a lot of the faculty hereat Arizona and the field in general. Note that a lot of these may be at your university librarybe available for cheap online.

General

Pinker, Steven. 1994. The Language Instinct.Pinker, Steven. 1999. Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language.Pinker, Steven. 2007. The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into into HumanNature.Baker, Mark. 2001. The Atoms of Language: The Mind's Hidden Rules of Grammar.

The books above are mostly syntax-oriented, we're still searching for others that focus on awider range of topics.

You can always just pick up any Introduction to Linguistics (or subfield: Syntax/Morphology/Phonology/Neurolinguistics/etc.) type of textbook and read through it in a week or two toget an overview of some ideas. Especially good if you've taken time off. If you want aspecific recommendation you can email graduate students in the department, the professorswho regularly teach that class, your first-year mentor, etc. Most of these should be availablein university libraries. Used copies can be very cheap too, and if you're in Tucson early youcan send a message to current students asking to borrow just about any of these books.

Graduate School

-MacCaulay, Monica. 2006. Surviving Linguistics: A Guide for Graduate Students.-Goldsmith, John A., John Komlos, and Penny Schine Gold. 2001. The Chicago Guide to your

Academic Career.

[You might want to pick up to reference these through your entire graduate schoolprocess, from initial considerations and applications to dissertations and beyond. Both havevery good discussions, and are well worth the price. Buy them now, or borrow them soon.]

-Booth, Wayne, Gary Colomb, Joseph Williams. 1995. The Craft of Research (ChicagoGuides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)

[Booth et al. tells you exactly how to start researching and writing a research paper.Its also a pretty easy read, and applicable to most specialties in Linguistics. Its also dirtcheap on Amazon.]

Specific Subfields

If you want to augment your theoretical background (absolutely not necessary before youarrive, but could be useful when the first term papers come around...), you could try these:

Syntax

-Carnie, Andrew. 2006. Syntax: A Generative Introduction.-Green, Georgia M. and Jerry L. Morgan. 2001. Practical Guide to Syntactic Analysis, 2ndEdition.

[Andrew's book is pretty much the standard introduction to Syntax these days. Greenand Morgan may be more appropriate for people with a syntax background. MarkBaker's book is great if you want something more basic than Andrew's book.]

Morphology

-Harley, Heidi. 2006. English Words: A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge, MA: BlackwellPublishers.

[Heidi's book is a great basic intro to morphology, one we teach here.]

-Harley, Heidi and Rolf Noyer. 1999. State-of-the-article: Distributed Morphology. GLOTInternational 4 (4): 3-9.

[Actually anything in the State-of-the-Article series is pretty good.]

Phonology

-McCarthy, John J. 2008. Doing Optimality Theory.-Archangeli, Diana and Terry Langendon. Eds. 1997. Optimality Theory: An Overview.

[McCarthy includes some recent bits that haven't caught on much, but it makes fora good read before doing any OT paper. If you don't know what OT is, start withArchangeli & Langendon if you're curious.]

Phonetics

-Ladefoged, Peter. A course in phonetics.

[Get a new-ish edition, don't spend $80 for the most recent if you can help it. Butthis is a good reference for your shelf and is a bit of a standard. Very useful tohave a basic understanding of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) andunderstand at least the symbols for English and other languages you've studied orspeak.]

Psycholinguistics

-Stanovich, Keith. 1997. How to think straight about psychology.

[An unfortunate title and it has a some definite biases, but it's pretty goodnonetheless. Pick up a recent-ish edition, they keep revising it but the basics areprobably the same and you can get a used one for $0.01 on Amazon if you get the5th or 7th edition.]

-Keppel, Geoffrey and Thomas Wickens. 2004. Design and Analysis: A Researcher'sHandbook. Fourth Edition.

[Read the first chapter. Its spendy and you'll probably need to buy it for Stats classanyway, but the first chapter really helps lay out how you need to integrate statsknowledge with experimental design. Borrow it from someone who's taken stats oreven Natasha. If you're doing psycholinguistics, you may want to look at the otherbooks in the stats section.]

-Townsend, David J., and Thomas G. Bever. 2001. Sentence Comprehension: TheIntegration of Habits and Rules. MIT Press.

Computational

-Hammond, Mike. Programming for linguists: PERL for language researchers.-Hammond, Mike. Programming for linguists: Java technology for language researchers.-Bird, Steven, Ewan Klein and Edward Loper. Natural Language Processing in Python.-Gries, Stefan. 2009. Quantitative Corpus Linguistics with R: A Practical Introduction

[Mike's books are for people with little to no background in programming and focuson problems and data relevant to linguistics.]

Statistics

-Gonick, Larry. 1993. The Cartoon Guide to Statistics.-Takahashi, Shin. 2008. The Manga Guide to Statistics.

[Fun-ish general introductions to stats. Useful as summer or winter reading beforeyou take the Stats class.]

-Gries, Stefan. 2009. Quantitative Corpus Linguistics with R: A Practical Introduction-Baayen, R H. 2008. Analyzing Linguistic Data: A Practical Introduction to Statistics using R.

[Much denser. They introduce R which is a great computer language to use for statsand some basic corpus processing or making stimuli for experiments. Gries is introductorybut stats are only part of it. Baayen may be impenetrable, even after taking a semester ofstats.]

Housing

Finding housing can be trouble if you're moving across the country. It's quite possible to asksomeone here to help you look over the summer, check out a place for you, or put you up

for a weekend or a week so you can find a place.

The best areas to live are right around campus. There's no reason to live 45 minutes away!There are plenty of relatively cheap places to rent nearby. People have had badexperiences with the south of campus (noise, petty crime, etc.). East of campus is nice, butthere's less to do, especially compared to the area around 4th Ave. North is more forbikers. There's not much there unless you're a bit further out, but there is a nice bike routedown Mountain which makes it easy to get to campus. If you're living more than a mile orso from campus, be prepared to drive everywhere and/or bike, but Tucson gets less bikefriendly the further from the University you are. If you're concerned about noise, you'll wantto steer clear of buildings with a larger undergraduate population.

The bus works pretty well for those who don't mind bussing, but you want to be on a directline and be aware of when your bus runs.

Don't hesitate to contact students or faculty about finding a place. In fact, you should asksomeone about the place/neighborhood you're looking at. Many students leave for thesummer, so you might be able to sub-let a place for a month or two while you're finding oneof your own.

Calling the department

The best times to call are between 9am and 12pm. If you can’t get through to someone,send an e-mail to the Graduate Program Coordinator, Jennifer Columbus(jennife2@email.arizona.edu). Jennifer can be reached by phone at 520-621-2113.Students can also feel free to contact Marian Wiseley, the Linguistics Departmentreceptionist, at 520-621-6897.

Planning your schedule

Make your first year class plan in consultation with your first year mentor, who is assignedto you before you get here in the fall. The first semester classes are somewhat rigid(Syntax I and Phonology I and one other for LingPhDs), so you won't have to worry abouttoo many options.

If you're experimentally minded, take stats ASAP, preferably by your second semester here.If it's not going to be offered for a while, consider taking the stats class in Psych or ageneral stats class. You won't be able to design experiments well or interpret the literaturewithout it.

If you can't fit in all the courses you need right away, that's normal and you'll need to makedecisions. You might consider simply sitting in on a class, even an undergraduate class, justto get some essential background if taking four graduate classes isn't a reasonable option(which it usually isn't).

Fellowships

There are a number of fellowships only available to students at different stages of theircareers. For US citizens in one of the PhD programs, there are NSF, Javits, and NDSEG

fellowships which you should be working on in the summer before you arrive here. Yourassigned faculty mentor, potential advisor, or any faculty member will probably be morethan willing to discuss these applications with you. If Arizona accepted you, you're of thecaliber of student who's in the running for these and other prestigious fellowships. Apply forthem. Sure, it'd be really awesome if you got it. If you don't, what you get is some reallygreat experience with writing this type of thing for later, concrete direction for your courseof study and research, and experience getting rejected. All of this is good.

Be sure to check with your recommenders about fellowships to apply for too, especially fornon-US citizens; your old mentors might know a lot more about fellowships you may qualifyfor.

A note about the FLAS

The Center for Middle Eastern Studies offers Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowshipsto students (US citizens only) studying a Middle Eastern language (Arabic, Hebrew, Persianor Turkish as of 2010, and only for second year or above). This is great, and you shouldapply for them but buyer beware: if you accept the FLAS you may slow your degreeprogress because you're agreeing to take the exact course you applied for AND possibly oneor more "area studies" courses (check their requirements before you apply). This means ifyour language course overlaps with an essential linguistics course, you need to pick thelanguage course. When you apply, you can specify a range of courses (i.e. I'll take secondor third year Turkish depending on a placement exam, or I'll take two semesters of MediaArabic or third year Arabic, etc.). This is good because, higher level language courses arelikely to be offered at only one time and possibly conflict with linguistics courses you reallywant to take. Also, be aware of what area studies courses they'll be offering. Since SamiraFarwaneh is a linguist in NES, its likely that she'll be teaching a course on Arabic linguisticsor sociolinguistics of the middle east, but these aren't likely to count towards your degreeunless you can get your own minor area approved or want to do the NES minor. A numberof linguistics faculty are also affiliated with CMES (Adam, Andy, Simin) so you may also beable to do a directed studies with them focusing on the structure of your language for anarea studies requirement. Preliminary or tentative schedules for the next year should beavailable either before you apply or before you accept. If you think you're eligible, apply forthem and get all the details before you say yes; but that also applies for every otherfellowship out there.

Mailing lists

There are a number of listserves associated with the department. By default, you should beon at least three mailing lists:

1. LingCircle: Current Grad Students (Ling PhD, ANLI, NAMA, HLT) only.2. LingStud: all current and some former graduate students in the UA Department of

Linguistics and, very rarely, some current and former graduate students in otherdepartments.

3. Lingua: The entire UA (and beyond) linguistics community, may include undergrads,alumni, faculty/students in other departments, etc.

You should be automatically signed up for these lists when you enroll in the program; youwill receive confirmation that you've been signed up. You can sign yourself up for open lists(LingStud and Lingua) by sending an email to listserv@listserv.arizona.edu with thefollowing message: subscribe listserve.name your.name. For example, if my name were

Jenny Smith and I wanted to sign up for the LingCircle listserv, the text of my email wouldread "Subscribe LingCircle Jenny Smith". Send an email with the text "Listserv RefCard" tolistserv@listserv.arizona.edu for a complete list of commands that can be sent to thelistserv. You can also manage your list subscriptions by logging onto http://listserv.arizona.edu/cgi-bin/wa?REPORT&z=3.

You can also request being added to the CogSci listserv by contacting Nova Hinrichs(nhinrich@u.arizona.edu). Other departments may have other listserves which you maywant to join according to your interests.

There are separate UnderLing (UA undergrad Ling majors) and LingFac (UA linguisticsfaculty) lists which we're generally not concerned with.

Please be prudent in your use of the listservs. LINGCIRCLE only addresses current linguisticsgraduate students. LINGSTUD addresses all linguistics graduate students (past and present)and undergraduate students as well. LINGUA addresses the linguistic community at large(including professors in and out of the department). If you're seeking help finding areference, make sure you've checked the usual channels (i.e. the library and google scholar)before you spam the list asking about a topic or an individual article.

General comments

Different types of students have different types of issues.

Your background

Students come from a variety of backgrounds. Find other students in or outside thedepartment and talk to them about your issues.

International students

A lot of good information comes from the Office of International Student Programs andServices: http://internationalstudents.arizona.edu/home. Whether you like them or not,you'll have to deal with them.

Finding a place to live before you come to Tucson. Somebody in the program should beassigned the 'advisor' role, which includes telling International newcomers what options areavailable in this regard near or far from campus.

Getting the driver's license. Your existing international license can be used for just oneyear; a current international student can tell you what steps to take to get your localdriver's license.

How to read the form I-20. This is the official document which is issued to an Internationalstudent for purposes of obtaining a VISA. The length of study specified on the I-20 may bedifferent from the length of program specified in the departmental handbook, and youshould plan your program accordingly.

How to learn as much as possible about Tucson. Go out with your classmates...for hikingaroud Tucson; some must-to-go places: Mount Lemmon, Sabino Canyon, Sonora DesertMuseum, etc.

How to learn local culture. Again, go out with friends to various places and festivals such asthe 4th avenue fair/festival, go shopping to 4th avenue or downtown, visit Arizona StateMuseum, the U of A Museum of Art or Tucson Art Museum, Tucson Mineral and Gem Show,Rodeo, etc.

For the mentor, it is derirable to find somebody among upper classmates from your ownculture who knows more about the USA and can advise you about the program. I tookadvantage of this opportunity, and my mentor's advice was always extremely helpful toorient me in the program.

Do not be shy with the professors. Try to communicate with them during parties and othersocial activities, taking advantage of every occasion to learn about the program and theculture in general.

What’s eating students from elsewhere?

Picture this: Students are taking notes during class without saying anything. Instructors donot seem to care that students are quiet. Instructors, taking this for granted, seem to plantheir classes without sparing any time to answer in-class questions. After the class, one ortwo students who were too shy to ask in class go up to the front and ask questions.

This is a very common sight in classrooms of many educational institutions . Of course,there are some students who are not like those described above as well. After beingeducated in such a circumstance for 16 years, many students have difficulties getting usedto this department's class style. You cannot just wait for the instructor to explaineverything. However, such waiting was just like waiting for “Godot”! At the UA Linguisticsdepartment, asking questions is believed to be one of the best ways to learn something.

So, please ask questions! That is the way your classes can be most beneficial for you. It isnot easy. Pay attention to the questions your classmates ask, and you'll realize thatprofessors generally want questions. Professors even get concerned when no one asksquestions, they don't know if their lectures were too simple or too complex. Gettingquestions helps them know how the class is going, so make sure you participate at least alittle. It will get easier later on.

A number of students are also used to just writing papers the night before they're due andexpecting to get As. Most of us could do this in during undergraduate degrees, but thatwon't cut it in grad school usually, and here in particular.

The long and short of it is, this program isn't like the program you're coming from, whetherits ASU in Phoenix or on a different continent. You need to balance being yourself withadapting to the departmental culture.

Tucsonans

Local students have a number of different considerations than non-AZ residents andinternational students. There are two main considerations:

1) Doing your graduate work at the same institution as your BA is generally discouraged.It's not necessarily terrible, but you should be prepared to defend your choice of doing a BAand PhD all at U of A. Diversity in training is generally cited as the reason against doing

this. For example, your undergraduate institution might hold a distinct set of ideas ontheory X or theory Y. Say that these aren't the most favourable ideas. You might absolutelylove working on theory X or really be able to make your mark in theory Y, but if no one everexplains these theories to you sympathetically, you'll never end up working in them. Thatcould be a tragedy (especially if they're particularly popular theories!).

2) If you are already equipped with a support network, you may not feel well-integratedwith your cohort or the program. Most people are leaving everything behind to come to gradschool, and will spend a lot of time with other linguists, at least initially. You'll want to makean effort to spend time with your cohort.

Coming with a BA in Linguistics

You'll probably feel that a lot of the first year material is review for you, but don't let thatlull you into complacency. One danger would be to think that this means you can slack offuntil the classes catch up to what you've already learned. This is bad for many reasons: (i)no two iterations of the same class are alike, and you'll get something out of each time youtake phonology I or syntax I (for example), especially from a new instructor; (ii) you likelydidn't completely and utterly understand absolutely everything from those classes anyway,so the review will help solidify things; and (iii) slacking looks bad, and first impressionscount.

Take the first year for the opportunity it is. This is the perfect time to explore the materialdeeper, or to look at alternative theories. You'll be well-placed to write your first termpapers, so make them count.

Note that not all linguistics BAs are the same. Some might have had more theoretical depththan others, some may have emphasised different fields or theories. Some of theinformation on 'Coming with a non-linguistics BA' below might be useful to you as well,especially if your undergraduate institution did not have a separate programme in linguistics(or a radically different theoretical emphasis).

Entering the PhD program with a non-linguistics BA

Starting the program without experience in Linguistics can be intimidating, as you will be inclasses with people who have been working in the field for years. Don't let this scare youaway-you will catch up! However, there are some ways to prepare that will allow you tobegin your first semester with more confidence.

Even if your BA is in a different field, it's good to have taken some introductory courses inLinguistics. If you can, take some as electives in your senior year. If it's too late for that,make a summer reading list. Work through an introductory Linguistics textbook (oneoption: An Introduction to Language by Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams). Learn or at leastfamiliarize yourself with IPA, the phonetic alphabet. Learn what a syntactic tree looks like,and figure out how to draw one. Also check out books written for the general public(Stephen Pinker's books are a good starting point, as is Mark Baker's The Atoms ofLanguage). (See the reading list section of this document for additional suggestions.) Youshould be assigned a faculty member as a first-year mentor, and they can give some adviceon a reading list too.

You should also have an idea about what the different subfields of Linguistics are all about,though you probably have looked into this a bit before you applied for the program. You'll

get some of this through your summer reading, and there is also general information online(short essays about each are available through the Linguistic Society of America:http://www.lsadc.org/info/ling-fields.cfm). Browse the course offerings and the official gradstudent handbook to see what kind of classes you would need to take for each major (notethat those are guidelines, not hard and fast rules). Finally, take a look at websites for thefaculty and their labs to get an idea of the work that's going on here and to see if there areany labs you'd be interested in joining. Although you don't have to choose a major rightaway, it's good to have a general direction you're interested in pursuing, even if that endsup changing once you have more experience.

Once you get here, you'll start fall term in introductory classes that are probably not goingto feel very introductory to you. If you feel like things are going too quickly, ask yourprofessors for help. You can also ask them for materials used by the undergradintroductory classes in Phonology and Syntax, which include basic problem sets you canwork through and discuss with the professors. (You may even want to sit in on one or moreof these undergrad classes--they have a lot to offer!) There is a lot of terminology to learnat the beginning. The more you can learn before you get started, the better, but don'tworry if you feel like everyone is talking over your head the first week.

Most importantly, don't hesitate to discuss any questions or concerns you might have withany of the faculty or other graduate students. There's a lot to think about at the beginning,and your most valuable resource is a very friendly department full of people who have allhad to deal with the same issues. Most will be more than happy to listen to your concerns,tell you their own stories, and give you more advice than you ever wanted!

Coming with an MA in Linguistics

Be prepared to be considered a first year student again. Everyone will generally forget thatyou've been doing this for a couple years, advanced students, faculty, and your cohortalike. You should also be prepared for the fact that the Arizona PhD is a different programfrom what you did already, and the flexibility of the core areas will at least mean you won'tend up repeating much coursework unless you want to.

Don't expect anything you've already done to count for any UA requirements.

Talk to the faculty about the content of courses, especially the II's (both syntax andphonology) as they're liable to cover very different things than your old school. People willprobably suggest you take them, and they're probably right. Sorry, it's kinda boring butyou'll probably live. You will be expected to take the coursework in your specialty areathough, so if you've already done three graduate Syntax classes, you can expect to bedoing some of that material again. Like 'Coming with a BA in Linguistics' says above, thinkof this as an opportunity and not a waste of time. Take note of the topics covered; payattention to things you know well, things you should review, and things you didn't knowabout at all. Revise those papers you did already or work on something else in conjunctionwith your new faculty.

Also, be wary of your prior theoretical training. Some people or departments love or hatecertain theories, and you're probably more influenced by the leanings of your priorinstructors and department than you realize. Give other theories a chance and see whatother reasonable people think about them before you poo-poo them too much (I'm lookingat you, Optimality Theory and Minimalism).

Tucson living (Extracurriculars)

You may or may not find Tucson to be a dull town. There are a lot of things to do, you justneed to drive and find them. For the non-drivers...well, make the most of your four years.Tucson does offer a wide variety of athletic and outdoor activities such as hiking, rockclimbing (both indoor and outdoor), yoga and basically any other sport that interests you.Check out the following websites for ideas:

Sabino Canyon, http://www.sabinocanyon.com/Madera Canyon, http://arizona.sierraclub.org/trail_guide/HIKE20.htmMount Lemmon, http://www.mt-lemmon.com/Sierra Club Tucson, http://arizona.sierraclub.org/trail_guide/index.htmRocks and Ropes Climbing Gym, http://www.rocksandropes.com/Spas and Resorts, http://www.ci.tucson.az.us/Tucson Yoga, http://tucsonyoga.com/

There is a Student Rec Center; it's close to campus and offers more workout facilities,classes, and outdoor excursions than can be listed. Go to their website to check it out:http://campusrec.arizona.edu/.

Tucson has a number of annual cultural events that you might want to check out:Early October: Tucson Meet Yourself (http://www.tucsonmeetyourself.org/) amulticultural festival.Mid-October: Tucson GLBT Pride (http://www.tucsonpride.org/) Your standard gay pride.Early November: All Souls Day Procession (http://www.allsoulsprocession.org/) a uniqueTucson experience.Mid-December: Winter 4th Ave Street Fair. (http://www.fourthavenue.org/)Early February: Tucson Gem ShowLate February: Rodeo. (http://www.tucsonrodeo.com/)Mid-March: Spring 4th Ave Street Fair.

UA Sports: UA is nationally competitive in a number of sports, most notably women’s andmen’s basketball. Tickets to men’s basketball games are sold through a lottery system, butthe best way to get them is to buy a Zona Zoo Pass (http://zonazoo.asua.arizona.edu/index.htm), which is useful for a variety of other sports, as well.

For those into the bar scene, it's probably best west of campus. 4th Ave has entertainmentstretching from University all the way down to Congress St. downtown. You probably wantto live near 4th if you're into that sort of thing; the weather is nice enough all year round(with a jacket for winter nights) to walk and not worry about how much you've had todrink. Be warned, however, that the astronomy mafia keeps the streets poorly lit anddangerous plants often overgrow the sparse sidewalks. Knowing your route to and from thebar is helpful. So is a flashlight.

Tucson has a lot of great places to eat. Faculty have the best recommendations, since theyget out (at least for dinners) more than the grad students. You'll probably need a car to getmost places, though. But hey, that's what friends are for!

Healthcare

Its hard to fill this section with something other than just the same platitudes about askingcurrent students for advice. So we've done some of that for you, in bullet point format.

• If you are a TA or an RA, you will get be able to enroll in the ~$900 student healthinsurance plan for free. If you have to pay for it yourself, you might want toexplore other options, as there are probably better deals out there - but of coursethis depends on your individual needs. If you have a fellowship, it may or may notinclude a health insurance plan.

• General Campus Health consulations are relatively cheap (with or even withoutinsurance)

• The student insurance plan doesn't include dental or eye (though I believe theremight be a nominal discount for certain providers). You might want to considerpurchasing a private plan if you are going to be needing either of these. I have hadgood luck with Employer's Dental Services (https://www.mydentalplan.net/), whichis around $200 for a year and has very good coverage (within a limited choice ofproviders)It may be worth calling ahead before you consider just going to urgentcare. They can have a nurse diagnose some of your symptoms over the phone to tryto send you to the right place if you do need to go in.

• Take your health seriously. We don't want you sniffling through class and infectingus. Wash your hands, eat well, get some sleep, and get some exercise into your life.

• If you're sick and having serious or prolonged symptoms of any kind, see a doctor.Tucson has some local diseases you might not be aware of (Valley Fever), differentallergens, etc. Experts are there for a reason. If you're not recovering after seeing adoctor, go back and get diagnosed again.

Policy Periods:• Fall Semester: Coverage effective mid-August to first week of January (specific dates will vary by

school year).• Spring Semester: Coverage effective first week of January to mid-August (specific dates will vary

by school year).

2009/2010 example charges:• General Medicine & Well Woman Care $15 Copay• Specialist Care $35 Copay• Lab & X-ray No Copay Applied• Psychologist/Therapist $20 Copay• Psychiatric Services $25 Copay• Behavioral Health Triage $5 Copay• Urgent Care $15 Copay

2009/2010 heath insurance plan details:http://www.aetnastudenthealth.com/schools/uarizona/brochure0910.pdf

Campus Health url: http://www.health.arizona.edu/webfiles/main.htm

Charges not paid on the day services are rendered will be forwarded to The University of Arizona StudentBursar's account.

Biking in Tucson

Tucson is considered to be a bike-friendly town, at least by American standards. Followinga few important safety tips will help to ensure that you have a positive biking experience.

It's the law in Tucson that you must use lights if you’re biking at night. The rear light mustbe red and the headlight white. Relatively inexpensive lights can be found in the myriad ofbike shops around town and so can helmets if you don’t already own one.

On stop signs: Always put your foot down! The law merely requires that you stop the sameas a car, and car drivers are not required to do anything in particular with their feet, as longas the car stops moving. But UAPD and TPD think that a foot on the ground is the only wayto be sure a bike has stopped. I've even heard of the police thanking someone for rollingthrough a stop sign just because they put their foot down! (I don't recommend this: a fulland complete stop is the law!)

Familiarize yourself with the bike routes: http://dot.ci.tucson.az.us/bicycle/pdfs/PAGBikeMap2005.pdf

Familiarize yourself with the city Department of Transportation's bike page, which has lotsof interesting and useful safety and legal information, as well as periodic municipal eventsfor bikers: http://dot.ci.tucson.az.us/bicycle/

Take up the whole lane if it's too narrow for both a bike and a car to pass! Never, ever rideless than 5 feet from car doors, and never, ever ride on the edge of the road if there's notenough room for a car to pass you. They will try anyway, and you will get hurt.

Never try to race in front of a pedestrian crossing a crosswalk. You will be ticketed, same asa car. Technically, riding your bike across a crosswalk is illegal, too.

Needless to say, never ride on the wrong side of the road, no matter how many foolishpeople you see doing it. It's extremely dangerous and makes traffic unpredictable.

If whizzing by rush-hour traffic on the right, always stop behind a car once the traffic startsmoving again; do not continue trying to pass cars, because they will right-hook you withoutseeing you.

Tuesday Night Bike Rides meet in the early evening west of Old Main. They meet earlier inthe winter, later in the summer. It's a lot of fun, and is seen by some as a less politicizedversion of Critical Mass. (It doesn't run red lights, unlike Critical Mass.) Critical Mass doesmeet here, too, and you can also get involved in bike advocacy by joining the Tucson-PimaBicycle advisory Committee: http://www.dot.co.pima.az.us/tpcbac/

Several bike shops and bike clubs organize regular bike rides. Most leave early in themorning. Wingspan also has a periodic bike ride.

The mountains around Tucson are a veritable mountain-biking heaven, but more or lessinaccessible to road bikes. Mount Lemmon is an exception: the Catalina Highway has road-bike-friendly lanes all the way up, but be very careful of drivers! Another exception is the9-mile-long loop road in Saguaro National Park East, at the end of Old Spanish Trail (whichitself is a nice road-bike ride).

ALC conference

LingCircle has been hosting an annual conference, usually around the end of October. Youshould participate, both by getting involved in the organization and by submitting anabstract. Don't fall into the trap of thinking your previous work is worthless. Run it by yourfirst year mentor or a likely advisor, of faculty member in the field. If you don't presentsomething your first year, you should definitely plan to present something your secondyear. Having UA students present at our conference is one of the main points of hosting it.

Also, it would behoove you to learn to give a paper before giving one. This could save yousome embarrassment. That's why you have mentors and advisors though.

Coyote papers

The Coyote Papers is the department publication run entirely by graduate students. Pastvolumes have ranged from general collections of working papers to proceedings ofconferences held here at the U of A, and back issues a-plenty are available around thedepartment for perusal (many are housed in the grad student library). The Coyote Papershas been on hiatus for the past couple of years, but we are planning to reinstate it as anonline-only Proceedings of the Arizona Linguistics Circle, the annual graduate student-runconference. This is still considered a "working papers" volume which will not be peer-reviewed for content. However, this does not mean that working papers are not importantor are ignored. If you present at the ALC, this is an excellent opportunity to put your workin a public forum, and as this is a working papers, publication in the Coyote Papers will notprevent you from being able to submit a more refined version of your work to a peer-reviewed journal. Many important papers have appeared first in working papers, and theyare a good way to get your research in print. In addition, working on the Coyote Papers asan editor or publisher is a great professional experience as well.

Lab groups

The activity of lab groups depends on who is interested, so if you're interested in somethingdon't hesitate to ask who does it and see about organizing things. Some labs have regularmeetings, others don't. If you're interested, make someone else take you or ask the facultyabout which groups match your interests. You do not have to wait to be invited! Faculty willwelcome the help.

Information on specific labgroups can be found in the official Grad Handbook and on theLinguistics Department webpage.

Department library(s)

There are linguistics-related references and books available for loan scattered around thedepartment in various places. For example, Syntax-specific books and journals can befound in the Syntax lab, and there is a general department "library" in the Douglassconference room. These are available for borrowing as needed.

The graduate student library is housed in the basement of Douglass by the TA cubicles. Itincludes an eclectic assortment of linguistics textbooks, journals, a gazillion back issues ofthe Coyote Papers (our department publication), and the odd reading-for-fun book. It is anunderused resource, so check out the selection--it might save you a trip to the real library

sometime. Feel free to borrow any books you'd like--just make sure to write what you tookon the sign-out sheet.

Cave, tour of, and other departmental spaces

There are a number of departmental spaces, including the Cave (for everyone), the Syntaxlab in Comm, the TA cubicles, your advisor's lab, the HLT lair, etc... You will need to get akey to the Douglass building and to the Cave; you get that from Marian along with abuilding key, and keys for Comm. First, go to Marian to get the necessary paperwork. Youwill then take the paper work over to the key office (near Speedway and Cherry; you mightask if people are driving because it's quite a hike in the August heat) and they will makeyour keys while you wait.

As a graduate student in the department you have free use of the computers in thegraduate student space called the Cave. These computers have internet access, MS Office,and a number of other programs of use to the grad student in general and the linguisticsgrad in particular. We also have a printer, which is to be used frugally. Both paper andtoner are expensive.

Each graduate student receives a personal copy code for personal photocopying needs. Thecopier is located in the lounge upstairs on the first floor. Copies cost 3 cents a piece. You’llreceive a bill at the end of each semester requesting payment. If you’re a TA, you’ll get aclass copy code, to use free of charge for copies made for that class.

The Cave is a happy place, a place for meeting and chatting with other students, and aplace for working. It is the sanctuary for all students who need one, physically, mentally,socially, and perhaps even spiritually. Help to keep it this way. Bear in mind, though, thatthe Cave is not always a quiet space, so you might want to use one of the TA cubicles if youdon't work well with others chatting around you.

TAing, problems with students while

Many students (particularly Ling PhDs and ANLI PhDs and some NAMA students) areassigned to TA classes. You should receive departmental training; if you don't, ask for it.Many TAs seem to have no real idea of how much or how little crap they should tolerate.The amount of crap one should tolerate is virtually zero. Ask a disruptive student to stop,and ask again if necessary. The other students will be on your side if someone is beingannoying and disruptive. Tell the course instructor about what the student did, and whatyou did, as soon as possible. The two of you (or more; get others involved if you're notcomfortable) can discuss the problem and find a solution, which may be as simple as havingthe instructor or a faculty member sit in on your next class, or set up a meeting with theinstructor, department chair, dean, etc. Whatever happens, your job is to teach a sectionand/or grade assignments, not to fight disruptive students.

TAing, rooms and equipment

Check out your classroom before the first day of classes. You want to know where it is,about how long it takes you to get there, whether it has a chalk or marker board, if it has aprojector, etc. before you start teaching. It's also a good idea to bring some chalk and/or amarker with you every time you teach; being caught without it isn't a pleasant experience.

Advice

Welcome to grad school. School is your job now, so make sure you consider it your job. Ifyou want to succeed in the field, you need to give it your full attention. You need to becomepart of the community, so join the LSA (www.lsadc.org/) now and start checking LinguistListregularly (linguistlist.org).

Developing relationships and finding mentors

Find out who shares your research interests and do the following things: 1. take classesthey offer, 2. try to work with them on their research, 3. discuss your research interestswith them, 4. attend their lab meetings (if applicable). You should consider doing anindependent study with some professor (before 3rd year). Don’t be afraid to ask questionsor talk to them outside of class/office hours. This will be easy if you're attending thecolloquium or lab meetings. When you do meet with professors, be prepared (have a writtenplan to guide your meeting). Even if its just some general ideas you want to talk about,professors appreciate it when you have done your homework beforehand.

Advisors and mentors

You will be assigned a faculty mentor for your first year whose interests will not usuallycoincide with your own. At the end of the first year, or beginning of the second, you maychoose a Major advisor. Also during your first semester, you will be assigned a graduatestudent mentor by LingCircle. Your mentor will be a more senior graduate student whoshares your interests. Your mentor is a good source of information and advice. Your mentormay want to check up on you often, or you might just get coffee once. Even if they're of thelatter type, they're willing to answer your questions, in person or via email.

Get advice from multiple sources. This is crucial. No one's circumstances are going to beexactly like yours, and no one's advice is guaranteed to apply to you. You would do well toget as much information as you can. Some of it will conflict, but as you navigate throughthings, some order will likely emerge from the chaos.

Start research early

Find out what work various professors do in their labs and if you want to join them, go up tothem, express your interest and volunteer your time. Ask if you can come to their labmeetings. Then they can decide what if anything they might do to get you involved; haveyou participate in lab meetings, get lab hours in, maybe even eventually hire you on as anofficial paid person.

Independent studies are a great way to get focused early on your research and can be donewith professors who don’t have a lab.

If you feel that you are “clueless” about your research, don’t worry, that’s a pretty normalfeeling. A BAD solution is to drift around and wait for something to come to you. A GOODsolution (but not the only one) is to expose yourself to the different research and labs oncampus. Try stuff. Even if you do a few projects and then change your mind about what youreally want to do, at least you’ve been productive and probably have done some work thatwill get you a conference presentation or two.

Make each term paper count

You're in graduate school now: everything is an opportunity for research and developingyour ideas. Even if you hate syntax or phonology class, pick a topic that is of some interestto you to write about. Maybe your term paper is just on a language you're interested in, itdoesn't matter. Make each term paper count. Well, two out of three ain't bad (Loaf 1977).Term papers are a way to share your ideas with professors and get feedback on them. They

can also be a way to make sure that you're actually comfortable in a certain subfield. Itwould be awful to miss out on an area you might really love just because you don't want tostretch yourself on a term paper. They can turn into conference presentations. They canturn into written comprehensive exams or a thesis. They can lead to dissertations orpublications. Take the opportunity to explore a topic you are interested in, talk to yourprofessors about bending the guidlines to make a topic fit as a term paper for the class.You'll be thankful in your fourth semester when you're asked to do the writtencomprehensive exam if you have a solid topic and 15-page foundation to work from.

Help out

Promote a culture of volunteerism in the department. Volunteer for anything that helps buildyour Curriculum Vitae (and it doesn’t hurt to volunteer for things that are meaningless foryour CV – like most LingCircle stuff). Some stuff that doesn’t look promising for your CV canturn into more official experience.

If you want to teach stuff or get experience with a particular class, you can alwaysvolunteer to help the professor of that class with grading or whatever. Teachers are oftenopen to free graduate help. The benefit for you is being able to become more acquaintedwith the professor and the content of the course, and you can probably list it on your CV.

Get involved, Get involved, Get involved. It’s great for fostering relationships with fellowstudents, but it’s also visible outside the student circle. Professors and others will notice andit could make a difference at an important time in your career.

Collaborate

Within the department, working with others can save you a lot of time and effort andgenerally improves your product. Whether you're working with someone else on a problemset, editing term papers, studying for orals, or jointly writing an article, do not be afraid towork with someone else. Just make sure you give thanks where thanks is due.

Interdepartmentally, depending on your area of specialization, its likely that you can workwith people who aren't in linguistics. In the broader picture of Cognitive Science, linguisticsis only one small part. Don't be afraid of working with non-linguists (you've got onespecialization, they have another) for some exciting research. Besides, "interdisciplinary" isone of the key buzz words of this era.

Build that CV

Your CV is your academic resume, but instead of fitting your life strictly one one or twopages, it is a record of all of your achievements. You should have one that you update eachsemester. You'll want to make sure you include all the relevant information, like yourmembership in the LSA (you are a member, right?), publications, teaching experience,grants and fellowships, and departmental service. If you're unclear on a format, just steal

one from another student, faculty member, or your advisor. They all show the same basicthings, and you can always revise later.

Everything can potentially go on your CV if you spin it right, but some things are better thanothers. In general, your CV will want to focus on publications, teaching, and grants. Also,be aware that some things (like service) are generally only notable in absentia. This meansyou should pitch in. Just don't try to fill your CV with service, do a couple things and dothem well.

Apply early and frequently to go to conferences. Ask around about which conferences aregood to go to. Check the LinguistList for calls. There are many conferences that are verygood for students, even early in your career. Don’t think “conferences are for 3rd years andolder”. Go, go, go to conferences. You will learn a lot, have a lot of fun, get good stuff onyour CV, make new and interesting connections, and generally make yourself much moreemployable. Travel funding is available from the department, College of Social andBehavioral Sciences, the graduate college and a million other sources. Ok, not a million, butlots.

Pay special attention to small conferences that focus on a specific area of interest, likelanguage families, revitalization, or whatnot. Sometimes they're one-shots, but often theyoccur every year and will give you a chance to meet a lot of interesting people whose workmay be very relevant to yours.

Don't discount graduate student run conferences, like our own ALC. Its a start and easierthan making your first presentation a high-pressure one. The U of A has several on anannual basis. Keep your eyes open.

While conference presentations are all well and good, but the real meat of your CV ispublications. So whatever you can do to focus on publications will probably do a lot moregood than anything else; grants and conference presentations are often just steps along theway to publications. By the end of your second year you should have submitted some workto some journal, or be in the process of doing it (i.e. your written comprehensive exams).Be prepared to revise and resubmit, but feedback is very valuable, and so too is theexperience. This initiative will show your professors your commitment and should result ineven more guidance and help with your research.

Be sure to join the LSA and any other relevant professional organizations. If you're lookingto get something on your CV (i.e. experience teaching a particular class) don't forget youcan do it for free (i.e. volunteering to be a TA for Syntax I) and then *BAM!* it can go onyour CV.

Make sure that you have at least a couple of semesters of teaching experience by the timeyou graduate. It will be important when you’re looking for jobs. Its especially important forstudents who have been RAs or on fellowships. You can get some of this experience overwinter or summer session.

Languages

The program doesn't have any time built in for language study. In fact, you may bediscouraged from doing formal language study in the classroom since it doesn't makedegree progress for you. If you're actually concentrating on one language or languagefamily, it's probably best to keep up with the language, and that means formal classes ifpossible. You can make it easier on yourself by going down a level (take intermediate

instead of advanced) and at least maintain what you have. A semester or two of a languageclass can really make you feel much more comfortable working with data if you're doingsignificant amounts of work on one language, and advanced proficiency opens the door forresearch and a broader range of career options. If you're just starting out, you have todecide, however, if you want a specialized "sexy" language (O'odham, Gaelic, Persian,Turkish, Mandarin) or a more well-studied lingua franca (French, Russian, Spanish). Doingclassroom study of a sexy language gives you a good understanding of some data that'llmake you stand out a bit. Studying a lingua franca may open doors for fieldwork, travel, orobscure grammar work.

Don't forget about potential summer programs too. The Summer Cooperative AfricanLanguage Institute (SCALI), for example, is US-based and offers a lot of fellowships forAfrican languages if you're a US citizen. The Critical Languages Program(www.clscholarship.org/) offers other paid opportunities for US citizens to learn languagesfor free over the summer. Others exist; so you can make that summer time count andimprove your CV with both a fellowship and a less commonly studied (i.e. sexy) language.Often these sorts of programs reward advanced study, so if you can do something basichere first, you're better positioned to get their money.

It turns out that UA does offer a lot of different languages, in 2008 the list included:• AIS/LING Navajo, Tohono O'odam• ARB Standard Arabic; Egyptian, Levantine and Moroccan Dialects after one year of

modern standard Arabic• CHN Mandarin Chinese• CLAS Ancient Egyptian• CRL Swahili, Cantonese, Korean, Hindi, Kurdish, Vietnamese, Kazakh, Thai,

Indonesian, Tagalog, Hungarian, Chechen, Polish, Swedish, Ukrainian, Czech,Norwegian, Irish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic, Croatian, Dutch

• ENGL Old English• FREN French• GER German• GRK Ancient Greek, Modern Greek• ITAL Italian• JPN Japanese• JUS Hebrew• LAT Latin• PRS Persian• PORT Portuguese• RUSS Russian• SERP American Sign Language• SPAN Spanish• TURK Turkish

Note that the CRL (critical languages) "classes" are more of an independent study type, butit varies based on the "teacher". Some are legitimate experienced language teachers, someare simple native speakers. Most of the time the CRL folk simply find a textbook and giveyou a few hours a week with a native speaker. If there's not many other students in your"class", you can make it much more fieldwork-like. Unfortunately there's a rather hefty feeassociated with these classes.

You should also be aware that language classes are scheduled at times which often conflictwith linguistics classes, so you may need to make a some sacrifices in order to keep up yourlanguage skills. If you can't fit a class in your schedule, you may be able to do a 1 creditdirected studies in the language, find a conversation group or partner, etc.

Nota bene: Middle Eastern Studies offers FLAS fellowships for Middle Eastern languages, butsee the caveats in the fellowship section because they may have "area studies" stringsattached for the Academic Year ones.

Budgeting your finances

Hopefully you're getting money to pay your tuition, but make sure you budget for fees,books, computers, and travel to conferences. There's also dues for the LSA and any otherprofessional society you wish to join. You might very well need books that aren't on therequired reading list: a $150 grammar or some other spendy reference. You need topresent your work at conferences. You'll probably want to buy a new computer sometimeduring your graduate career. You shouldn't expect someone else to pay for all of this. Aconference will cost you at least the price of a plane ticket, meals for a weekend, and a fewnights in a possibly classy hotel. Sure, you can get some money for these sorts of things,but its not going to cover everything. You might not get it. Plan accordingly and takeapplications for funding seriously.On the same note, beware of taking out excessive loans. Your BA might have left you inmore debt than you realize, and you don't want to significantly increase your debt in gradschool (unless you're in HLT where you have better job prospects). That said, computers,cars, and conferences can be expensive and student loans generally have favorablerepayment rates.

Fellowship semesters, summers, and other "down time"

If you have some "down time" from a fellowship, semester, or for some other reason, enjoyit. Make some progress too. Apply for grants and fellowships, hammer out a plan of study,or include some language study, especially if you can get some money for it. There are anumber of opportunities (particularly for US citizens) to take a language class at the UA orelsewhere, and one year of study of any language can do you a lot of good. There are evensome particularly "sexy" languages which are typologically rare, major lingua francas thatare often cited or gateways to even more "exotic" languages, or "critical" and marketablelanguages. Many of the categories overlap, but a year of Chinese or Tohono O'odham mightopen up some new intersts or turn into some conference presentations, or just spice upyour CV a little.

Funding

The faculty and staff spend a lot time and energy to ensure students have funding. Youshould spend some time on this as well. Bringing in outside money helps the departmentand looks great on your CV. Ideally, you want a mix between fellowship and TA/RAexperience. It also puts you in a better position to receive funding from the departmentbeyond your guarantee, should you need it.

Branding yourself

Some people worry about their "branding": do I want to be a phonologist or a phonetician?In reality, its your dissertation (and/or publications) that is likely to brand you much morethan any departmental major area of emphasis or even coursework. To be explicit, there areconflicting schools of thought on this topic.

Pick an area as soon as you can; it's better to be a phonologist that switches to syntax than

to be a nothing for two years and then a syntactician. Also remember that areas canoverlap: don't be tied to the phonetics or morphology minor area if the phonology or syntaxfocus do the same thing for you. Coursework hoops are sometimes just hoops, and you canbe a morphologist if you do Syntax and Phonology, or a psycholinguist if your minor area isCogSci.

Within the department, it may behoove you to be agnostic in public about deciding on aspecialization. Faculty like to work with promising young students, and they may thinkyou're uninterested in their area if you choose another specialty.

Programmes and their requirements

Your requirements are spelled out in the official grad handbook, so this section supplementsthat with some specifics related to the Linguistics PhD, the ANLI PhD, the HLT Msc, and theNAMA MA. Its important to remember that degree requirements can come from differentareas: your advisor, the department, or UA in general. If you have questions or concernsabout meeting requirements, it's good to talk about research related issues with youradvisor, administrative/grad college issues with Jennifer, and general and specific programissues with the grad advisor (currently Simin). Note also that some faculty see therequirements set out in the official handbook as guidelines for your degree while others area bit more dogmatic (iron-clad?) in their approaches. It may be useful to ask otherstudents about how they met their requirements, but remember that ultimately your advisorcan require you to take additional classes before signing off on your degree plan. Theprinted guidelines are meant to be good for everyone in general; your specifics may vary.

Petitions: exceptions to the rules

In general, if you cannot satisfy a requirement imposed by the department (or the graduateschool) you may need to make a formal petition, such as for letting an independent study orseminar count as another class that won't be offered or you cannot take. The petitionprocess is currently being reviewed by the faculty to help streamline it. In general, the coreareas apply to everyone and substitutions there are likely to require more effort anddiscussions than substitutions for your major or minor area.

For now, it's best to talk to the Graduate Program Coordinater (Jennifer) about these first;she can tell you everything you need to know about petitions. Everyone's situations aredifferent, so you may have to talk to a number of people to figure out what's best for you(start with your advisor, first-year mentor, Jennifer, the Grad advisor (Simin), and the depthead (Mike)). You'll probably want to ask to see a petition someone else did too, so you canmake yours count.

Take petitions seriously, even if the department just needs to rubber stamp something. Younever know who might object to something, and wouldn't want it to be denied because youdidn't spend an hour spell checking or didn't ask someone else to read it over.

Ling PhD

Its stupid to just list what's in the official handbook, right? But let's take a quick overviewof the program anywho.

Initial coursework and the Core Courses

The course schedule is available online at:http://garnet.ccit.arizona.edu/cgi-bin/schedule/schedule.cgi?

The handbook lays the course guidelines out pretty well: do five courses in six areas. It'snot a bad idea to tentatively plan a year in advance so you can get not only all the corecourses in, but the ones you want. Look over the course descriptions and decide whichones you want to do, ask your mentor(s) and advisor for input, and be aware that there is alist of the next year's course offerings floating around (ask Jennifer or Andrew) because youcan know which classes are liable to be offered in future semesters.

You want to plan to be done with the core courses at the end of your second year, so don'tdawdle. If there's a really important seminar you want to be in, it might be worth justsitting in on it to get the content, but not worry about doing the work.

Choose other courses in conjunction with your first-year mentor or advisor. If you're unsureabout what to take, ask around.

Don't forget that you'll also be doing the colloquium class your first year.

Choosing an advisor

Do this by the end of the second semester or beginning of the third is when you shouldmake a plan for a specialty. If you're a little dubious about things, pick something and letyour advisor know that you're on the fence and you may still switch. In general, people arenice and won't be hurt if you dump them as long as you communicate with them, preferablyin advance when possible. Its also possible to pick co-advisors, which may be useful to get asecond opinion, especially if you're straddling different areas (either different subfields likesyntax versus phonology, or different methods within a specialty like experimental versustheoretical phonology).

You can always change advisors, but make sure you're polite and keep everyone informed.

Choosing a major/minor

Most people come in with an idea of a major, or at least an idea of what they don't want toconcentrate on. The core courses are a good way to explore your options, so take themseriously. You can look at the major and minor areas in the handbook, but if something isn'tlisted or doesn't have the emphasis you want talk to a) your advisor, b) your first-yearmentor, c) the grad advisor, or d) the dept head about making the program you want to do.Its not always obvious how to do a number of areas (morphology, neurolinguistics,semantics, fieldwork, revitalization, etc), but don't feel limited. There is a lot of expertisehere that you can tap into. Its worthwhile asking both faculty and grad students: faculty canoften tell you big-picture details and about how previous students have done things andwho works in what general areas, while the right grad students might be able to tell you thespecifics about current projects and future research.

Don't be afraid to straddle a couple majors for the first two years. If you're undecidedbetween syntax and phonology, you can make a plan of study for both majors and see whatcourses you can apply to either. You're also likely to be able to minor in the other area.

Make sure your advisor (or co-advisors) knows your feelings and everyone should be fine.

Don't get hung up on the major/minor's title either. Even if you think of your minor asmorphology or phonology, you might end up doing the syntax or phonetics minor anywayjust because those courses fit your plan better. Remember that you can deviate from themajors or minors as they're set out in the official grad handbook. They're guidelines for aprogram that you can customize with your advisor based on your specific interests.

Comprehensive Exams

You need to do two written comprehensive exams (a.k.a. sometimes called prelims, comps,or qualifying papers), one in your 4th semester and one in the 5th. They becomesignificantly less intimidating if you have a term paper (or some other research projectyou've started, like a conference presentation or working paper) to use as the basis for yourwritten comprehensive exam. People who walk into the course (LING697A) with a topic dosignificantly better than those who don't. People who walk into the course with a term paperon the subject generally do better than those who just have a topic.

Because this is the first big milestone, it can be intimidating; there's also the tendency forthose of us who enjoyed the process the least to be the most vocal about it. It's vital not tobe daunted by this! Nothing will hurt your progress on the paper than dreading to work onit!

After writing this paper in conjunction with a class, you get either a Pass, a Not Pass, or aFail. Don't freak out if you get a Not Pass because it just means you've got some revisionto do. A lot of people get not-passes, especially if they didn't have much to bring to thewritten comprehensive exam right away. For the second one, you probably want to startworking on it over the summer after you finish the first paper, and don't forget that youneed to write a uniqueness proposal right after you turn in the first paper, which means youneed a topic for your second one when you finish the first. Remember that these are likelyto be outgrowths of term papers you've previously written. If, for some reason, you're notdone with one on-time, talk to your advisor and committee about making a plan to finish itbefore you start the second one.

For any written comprehensive exam that needs data collection, you need to get startedASAP. This is because a) it takes a long time to collect data; b) during LING697A you wantmost of your data ready so you can rework and rewrite your analysis; and c) IRB approvalscan take a long time depending on what you're looking at doing. Currently, Natasha Warnerand Janet Nicol are the people who will help with human subjects permissions.

Experimental papers will benefit from taking stats beforehand. Also, consider doing a labrotation (i.e. an directed studies type course) in a relevant lab the semester before you doan experimental paper. It will teach you some of the basics of design and implementation(including how to recruit and run subjects).

Masters along the way

Upon completion of the requirements listed below, you will receive a non-terminal Master’s.Be sure to apply as soon as you’ve met the requirements. Applying involves the prior filingof the “Master’s Plan of Study” form and the “Master’s or Specialist degree completion”form.a. Completion of 30 units of graduate work in linguistics, including the core course.

b. A research paper on some topic which must be submitted and approved by a committeeof 3 faculty before the beginning of the 5th semester. It can be the first writtencomprehensive exam. This committee can be the same as your written exam committee.

It is possible to do HLT (MSc) or NAMA (MA) on the way instead of the Linguistics MA; chatwith an advisor (or Mike) about this if you're keen on it.

Associate Status

Upon entry in the program, you are an “assistant”. This classification pertains to your payscale for TA (teaching assistantship) and RA (research assistantship) positions. Aftercompletion of the requirements listed below, you will advance to “associate” status and yourbase pay willincrease accordingly.• A total of 30 units at UA• Completion of the 4th semester

• Filing MA paperwork by August 1st prior to the 5th semester

Orals

Orals are a breadth test to correspond with the "depth tests" of the written comprehensiveexams. The typical format is a formal presentation of one or both comprehensive exampapers with questions, followed by an open topic question period. Students are expected toanswer questions from all areas of linguistics. The questions period is a minimum of 1 hourand a maximum of 3 hours. (The presentation is not counted in this time frame.) Studentstypically prepare with open "mock orals" with other graduate students. The questioning inthis period is typically more difficult than the actual orals.

Prior to taking the oral exam, students must fill out the “Application for Oral ComprehensiveExamination for Doctoral Candidacy” form located at the following link:http://grad.arizona.edu/Current_Students/Forms/GC_Forms.php This form must becompleted and submitted to the Graduate College at least 7 working days prior to the dateof the oral exam.

Prospectus

This varies widely by committee wishes; check with your committee for what they want. Themost common format is a 3,000-word introduction to the research questions addressed inthe dissertation with an annotated bibliography/reading list attached. An outline of thedissertation is also often included. The prospectus is expected to be completed within fourmonths of orals, but this deadline is often not enforced. Students should write theprospectus in such a way that it can form the foundation of the introductory chapter of thedissertation. The final product and the prospectus will often vary to some significant degree.

The Big D

Here's you're chance to write the great American novel.

Writing the dissertation is largely about time and committee management. Hopefully you'velearned some of these skills during your comprehensive exams. Be sure your committee

members have time for you, and that you want to spend time with them. Set a realisticschedule and stick to it. If you've never written 10 pages in two days, don't think that youcan suddenlt start doing it. Keep a weekly or biweekly (twice a week or every two weeks)meeting with someone on the committee. You'll have to do work at least once during thattime, and they'll have to listen to you.

Meet with your co-dissertators. It may feel like procrastination, and sometimes it will be,but talking to others going through it helps (as does the frozen yogurt or beer that you havewhile doing it).

Keep all those writing tips and tricks in mind that you picked up over the years. Dosomething every day. Seriously. Even if its sitting in front of your computer and starting ata blank document. Momentum is everything. Once you know you will spend that timestaring at your computer, you'll start thinking of ways to fil that time. Start where you needto, not at the beginning. Starting is important. Do small, managable chunks.

The dissertation isn't about coming out with the most brilliant piece of work ever. Itsshowing that you can:

• do something of that scale,• fom start to finish,• making it solid,• mostly on your own,• and in your own way.

The absolute last form one needs to fill out in one’s PhD career at the UA is “TheAnnouncement of Final Oral Examination,” which can also be located at:http://grad.arizona.edu/Current_Students/Forms/GC_Forms.php . This form generates all ofthe paperwork your Committee needs to evaluate your Final Oral Defense; this finalpaperwork is sent to your Committee Chair.

Job Applications / Post docs

People get jobs because someone knows someone who knows them. Have a good CV, go toconferences, publish and get grants just like everyone says. But really, get in good withpeople who know people… Happily our faculty are those kind of people.

Be bold and confident. You are a big muffin now, portray yourself as one. But don’t lie. Ifyou say you can teach syntax or phonology you just might have to…

Keep in mind this is a very good program and you are probably better prepared then youthink you are (cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect).

ANLI

Programme Structure

Early Stages

You should have been assigned an advisor with your initial information packet. Youradvisor could be any faculty in Linguistics or Anthropology, and you may end up with an

advisor in each department. Make sure you get in touch with them before the semesterstarts, to make sure you are all set with classes and anything else that might come up.

Your first year you may end up taking mostly Linguistics classes, and will get to knowmore Linguistics students and faculty, because of how the program is organized. It isreally important to keep in touch with the Anthropology department as well. If you canmanage to take a class in Anthro each semester of your first year, that is ideal, but if not,you should keep in touch with your Anthro advisor, and also try to meet the otherprofessors and get to know them.

Select your initial courses in conjunction with faculty from both departments.

Comprehensive Exams

You need to complete Comprehensive Exams in both departments. This is often done inyour third or fourth year. The different departments have very different exams, and youcan take either one first (though it is most common to do your Linguistics exam first, andyour Anth exams after that).

Linguistics Exam

For your Linguistics Exams, sign up for Ling 697A, which is required to take, and is veryhelpful. The exam consists of writing one paper, on a topic of your choice. This topic oftencomes from a paper written for a class, that can be expanded on.

Once you decide on your topic, you need to choose a committee of three people who willread your paper and give you feedback. Ideally these people should have a background inthe area of your topic. One of your committee members should be your advisor, and onehas to be the head of the committee (usually the same person). If the advisor originallyassigned to you does not have a background in the area you have decided to look, you canchange your advisor if necessary.

The 697A class should be able to answer your questions regarding this process, whichbasically includes writing multiple drafts of your paper, and giving it to your committeemembers to read and give you comments on. At the end of the semester, you will passyour exam if all of your committee members agree that you have made sufficientimprovements and incorporated their suggestions.

You should meet with all of your committee members as often as you can during thissemester, to make sure you are all on the same wavelength.

Anthropology Exam

The exam in Anthropology has a very different structure from the Linguistics exam. You willneed 3 committee members from Anthropology, but they don’t all have to be from LinguisticAnthropology. You also don’t have to have a minor committee in the Joint program. If, forexample, you are looking into a specific area, you can have Archaeologists or CulturalAnthropologists who specialize in that area on your committee. Ideally you should ask thefaculty you would like to have on your committee at the end of the previous semester. Onceyou have a committee, it is really important to keep in touch with them as often aspossible.With each committee member, you will pick a topic. This topic should have

something to do with your future research interests, as well as with the faculty member’sarea of study.

There are two steps to the Anth. Comprehensive Exams, the Statements/Bibliography andthe Written Exams:

The first step is to turn in a statement and bibliography to each committee member on yourtopics. The first part of the semester is spent compiling a comprehensive bibliography onyour topic and obtaining and reading these sources. The statement is an overview of whatyou have read and should bring together common themes in such a way that you and yourcommittee member can agree on a question that they will ask you for your writtenexamination.

Depending on the wishes of your committee members, these statements and bibliographiesmay need to go through several drafts before being accepted. It is very important to talkwith each person and make sure you know what is expected, and give them plenty of timeto give you feedback.

It is also important to set a date for when you will turn in each draft and when you will turnin your final draft.

The second step is the Written Examination. You should have also set a date for when youwant to start your exams. You will have two weeks to write about 10 pages on each of yourtopics. After all of your committee members have accepted your statements, and you havediscussed questions, on the day you have set to start your exams, you will be given a list ofthe questions you will have to answer in those two weeks. Once you turn it in, and they areaccepted, you have passed your Comprehensive Exams.

Oral Exams

After both your comprehensive paper in Linguistics and your Comprehensive Exams inAnthropology are completed and passed, you can take your Oral Exams. You need to have6 people on your Oral Exam committee, which will be the 3 from each of your previouscommittees. Setting the date for the Oral Exam is tricky: you have to find a three hourblock of time that all of your committee members have free and which gives you a sufficientamount of time to prepare for the exam.

Once you have set your date, there is a form you have to file with the Graduate College (ontheir website) at least three weeks before the date of your Orals. The exams themselvesconsist of you giving a presentation to your committee on your Comprehensive exam paperin Linguistics, and a question-answer period in which your committee asks you questions totest your general knowledge of Linguistics and Anthropology. It is also important to talk toeach committee member before the Oral exams to make sure you know what is expected.

Funding Opportunities and Resources

Make sure you apply for funding in both the Linguistics and Anthropology departments. Youcan apply for both TA-ships and RA-ships, and there are various funding opportunitiesadvertised over the listservs in each department.

Summer teaching jobs are available, but very competitive, in both departments.

The Linguistic Anthropology Laboratory (Haury 317) is a great resource to utilize. You cancheck out video/audio recording equipment for fieldwork or research, and there is a lot ofaudio/video editing software to use as well. You will get very familiar with the lab when youtake Anth 620, which entails carrying out a research project using video. You can alsointern in the Lab during the semester, and there are some funding opportunities availablethere as well. Contact Norma Mendoza-Denton to find out about what you can do in thelab.

Surviving ANLI

Congratulations! You've found yourself unable to fit into Linguistics because it doesn't giveyou a full picture of social theory; or you've found yourself unable to fit into Anthropologybecause it doesn't teach you the full complexity of linguistic structure and linguistic analysis.You've beaten the odds by discovering that there are programmes (exactly 2) that bridgethis gap, and beaten the odds again by actually making it into one of them.

Now what? You're probably trying to make sense out of what the next six to twelve years ofyour life will look like, and not getting much sense out of combining the resources that areout there.

The word on the street is that ANLI is basically a combination of both the Linguistics and theLinguistic Anthropology PhD programmes. And for the most part, this is true. But don't fallinto the trap of listening to people talking about milestones in those programmes andthinking they apply to you! Here is a list of some "false cognates"--things that you may hearand should remember do not apply to you:

False Cognates Proper Translation

Linguistics PhD students mustchoose a major and a minor. ANLI students already have two majors.

Comprehensive exams take placein the 4th and 5th semesters.

ANLI students have a lot more coursework, andalthough it would be nice to start your comps in yoursecond year, it's ok to wait. Satisfactory progress forANLI requires that you do your first comp at the end ofyour third year and your oral comp by the end of yourfourth.

You are required to complete theMA in LingAnth.

You are heavily encouraged to complete the MA's inboth departments, but this is not a strict requirement.There are benefits in GRA pay, and in hireability off-campus. An Anthropology MA will give you a pay raiseonly in Anthropology GRA's; a Linguistics MA will giveyou a pay raise in both departments.

Your chances of getting GRA'sare better since you're in twodepartments.

Both departments are having trouble funding evenpeople with funding commitments. You have to try veryhard and apply everywhere you can.

ANLI students only need 4 of the6 core areas in Linguistics.

The official ANLI programme is in the Official Linguisticshandbook (pp33-34), and it says 5, not 4. Pay noattention to the ANLI section on p22 of theAnthropology guide: it is wrong.

You need three faculty membersfrom each department on yourcommittee.

You will have lots of “committees” of various sorts. Yourcommittee for both written comps requires 5 facultyincluding at least 2 from each department. Thiscommittee will also do your oral exam: you only haveone oral comp. Your PhD committee requires at least 3faculty including at least 2 from one department and atleast 1 from the other.

Anthropology PhD's require atleast one course outside one'ssubfield.

You should do this, but you are not required.

Anthropology PhD's require astats course.

You should do this, but you are not required.Remember, pp33-34 of the Linguistics Grad handbookare your bible, and they say nothing about stats or“outside-subfield” requirements. The stats requirementis confusing because you can choose stats or phoneticsfor ANLI. Phonetics no longer exists, but is distributedbetween LING513 and LING514, the former of whichyou must take and the latter fills a Linguistics coregroup.

Linguistics PhD's require twoseminars.

You will wind up taking these because of your naturalcuriosity, but they are not required because they are noton the bible pages, 33-34 of the Linguistics Gradhandbook.

FLAS funding from the Center forMiddle Eastern Studies is a greatway to get your tuition paid anduse the area-studies requirementto help your Anthro programme!

Nope. The ANLI requirements are quite specific, andquite extensive. Nothing listed on the “bible pages” canpossibly be filled by a NES course, even those cross-listed as ANTH 696, because they are not 696C. FLASwill extend your time-to-degree, no two ways about it.Still, nice work if you can get it!

You have the distinction of being a part of a highly selective programme whose studentsactually bring in more money in funding than the departments have to spend on us. Do yourpart to keep that reputation high! Apply for external funding early and often.

Get to know the other ANLI students well. They know more than any of the faculty aboutthe realities, trials, tribulations and joys of the programme, and more than any of the staffexcept Jennifer Columbus. They can also help advise you on practical next-steps,conferences and journals of interest to ANLI-types, and many other things.

Take part in both LingCircle and AGUA (Anthropology Graduates at the U of A). Get socialwith both sides. Use the new AGUA wiki; all this information will be on there and will bedynamic, changing with the changing reality.

HLT

Before you start

HLT requires a basic competence in both linguistics and programming before you start. Thereading lists above may be helpful, depending on your focus within HLT.

Timeline

Most students prefer to finish the program in a year and a half, doing 4 courses persemester.

Two worlds

HLT melds two world, sometimes with awkward results. Having an understanding of somescripting language, like python or perl, is really essential. You'll want to end up being ableto work in the industry, but some of the more academic or research oriented languages(prolog, haskel, eiffel, erlang, etc) may actually prepare you better for your future job orcareer than just a "practical" language like perl or python alone.

There is going to be a spectrum of people interested in the degree, some will be purelinguistics people, others will be pure computer science people. Most will be in between,usually with a bit of a lean towards one end.

A better understanding of the software development process might be helpful. Anyonewithout a hardcore computer science background will find themselves playing catch-upoccasionally when it comes to the development process, testing elements, etc. That's justnatural, but you've got the linguistic skills that computer science folk just don't have.

NAMA

Requirements

The NAMA requirements can be found in the Official Grad Handbook. Consult with facultyand other students about your interests when selecting elective courses.

Culture

Some NAMA students may come from their reservation communities which are often rural(if you are an urban dweller, you can skip this part). The move from rural life to Tucson maybe difficult because you are leaving your community, family and friends as well as culturalties. This is a hard move to make because leaving your cultural center may involve losingthe opportunity in participate in traditional social and religions events which help keep youbalanced. This puts a strain on you emotionally, culturally and spiritually. Do your best tofind people and activities that will support you in these important areas. The local NativeAmerican communities include: the New Pascua Yaqui Reservation, the Old Pascua Yaquicommunity, the San Xavier reservation and the Tohono O'odham reservation (Sells, AZ).

There are 763 Native American students on campus. Sells has a big fair in the spring. The

Native American club hosts an annual powwow each April (if you are into powwows, want tohang out with a large group of Natives or just want some fry bread). There is the NativeAmerican Student Affairs (NASA) office in Nugent building which is just east of Douglass.Here is their mission statement and club information:

• Native American Student Affairs (NASA) Our mission is to provide culturallysensitive academic support and counseling services to American Indian/AlaskanNative students. By implementing innovative retention programs, strengtheninginter-departmental collaborations and promoting student leadership, we strive tonurture student success in the university’s academically competitive environment.

• Alpha Pi Omega Sorority, American Indian Science and Engineering Society,American Indian Studies Graduate Association, Beta Sigma Epsilon Fraternity, MissNative American University of Arizona Committee, Native American Student AffairsStudent advisery, Native American Law Student Association (NALSA), Native NationsIn Christ, Red Ink Student Publication, Society for Advancement of Chicano andNative Americans in Science (SACNAS), University of Arizona UNITY Chapter,Wildcat Pow Wow Committee

Dr. Tom Holm (holm@email.arizona.edu), from the AIS department, and his son, Mike,sponsor a drum group (Panther Creek) for U of A students. This drum group is open to anyinterested University student. The drum is Southern especially interested in gourd singing(but will convert Northern singers or train men and women with no singing background).

Research

As members of Native American communities that witness the loss of our languages, we seea clear need to document our languages now. This is a necessary step but when you arewriting a paper, don’t get so carried away with documenting that you forget to do theanalysis. This is very hard to balance.

For more information regarding the specific structure and requirements of the program(including deadlines) contact either Mary Willie (mwillie@email.arizona.edu) or OfeliaZepeda (ofelia@email.arizona.edu).