The interests of the faculty cover a wide range of areas in theoretical linguistics. The field's graduate program covers all facets of linguistics, as well as an exceptionally broad spectrum of course dealing with the history and structure of particular languages. Most graduate students in the field are enrolled in the Ph.D. program.

A regular course load for students without a teaching appointment is four courses per semester. Students who are teaching normally take three courses per semester. All linguistics courses should be taken under the letter-grade option.

Ph.D. program. To assure that Ph.D. students receive an adequate grounding in all of the fundamental areas of linguistics, the field has defined a "core" requirement in the areas of Syntax, Phonology, Semantics, Historical Linguistics, and Field Methods. In addition, Ph.D. students are expected to take one other general linguistics course either in the area of linguistic structure (e.g., morphology, phonetics) or in the area of language use (e.g., sociolinguistics, psycho-linguistics, language contact). Ph.D. students must also participate in the Research Workshop in conjunction with another workshop (no seminars) or independent study during the fall semester of their third year.

Before taking the Admission to Candidacy examination, students are required to demonstrate a reading knowledge of a language, other than English, with a significant scholarly literature relevant to their research interest. The field has an in-depth language study requirement, which may be satisfied in a number of different ways.