Division of Behavioral Studies Department of Linguistics

The Department of Linguistics was founded in 1908 and is one of the oldest linguistics departments in Japan. We pursue general linguistic research in the areas of theoretical linguistics, descriptive linguistics, field linguistics, language documentation, historical comparative linguistics, along with individual studies on specific languages based on these theoretical foundations.

Lectures and seminars are given selectively on the above areas and include topics such as descriptive linguistics, field linguistics, comparative linguistics, phonology, phonetics, morphology, syntax and studies on various languages and language families such as Sino-Tibetan, Semitic, Eskimo, Altaic, Indo-European, Papuan, various African languages, Ryukyuan and Japanese. Foreign language courses are offered mainly for Asian and African languages such as Korean, Burmese, Manchu, Tibetan, Arabic, Persian, Indonesian, Sumerian, Swahili and others. Areas outside the expertise of the staff are covered by part-time lecturers from other universities.

Undergraduate and graduate students attend their respective lectures, though some lectures are open to both. Each graduate student is required to submit at least one paper a year.

The faculty members, students and graduates organize the Kyoto University Linguistic Circle, which holds three meetings a year at which lectures and papers on various topics are presented. The journal Kyoto University Linguistic Research, edited by graduate students, is published annually by the department.