MA/MS in Linguistics (specialisation)

Leiden's one-year Linguistics specialisation lets students concentrate on one thematic or disciplinary strand, chosen to reflect the department's particular strengths in the field. The curriculum spans the full range of linguistics and language use, and courses combine in ways that follow either a thematic or a disciplinary line of interest, allowing concentration on areas such as Indo-European linguistics, language acquisition, documentation of endangered or little-studied languages, pragmatics and communication, or forensic and phonetic speech science, alongside core theoretical areas like syntax, semantics, and phonology. Students can follow one of several ready-made routes through the programme or construct an individual one based on their own interests. Empirical resources available include dedicated phonetics, EEG, eye-tracking, and infant-language laboratories, giving students access to hands-on tools alongside theoretical coursework across both Western and non-Western, ancient and modern languages.