Postgraduate degrees (M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D.) are also offered in the field of Linguistics. The  M.Phil and Ph.D. degrees are by thesis. Generally, research for postgraduate degrees is done on Caribbean language phenomena, but there are no administrative restrictions.

The M.A. by course-work in Linguistics will be taught intensively on a full time basis over two Summers. Summer one (1) will begin early July each summer and run for 6 weeks to the end of August. It will consist of coursework to be delivered in the summers, with an examination at the end of each summer. The student will also be required to submit a research paper (of approximately 15,000 words) by August 31 of the following year.

The full list of course offerings (all of which will not be available in any one year) is as follows:-

• L600 - Issues in Syntax and Phonology

• L601 - Linguistic Universals and Typology

• L610 - Selected topics in Caribbean Language Structure

• L620 - Dynamics of Language Variation

• L640 - Theoretical Issues in Applied Linguistics

• L650 - Research Papers

L600 - Issues in Syntax and Phonology

A selective survey of recent developments in phonological and syntactic theory. Topics to be surveyed will be chosen from among the following:

Natural generative phonology, psychological reality in phonology, the relationship between phonology and syntax, extended standard theory, Chomsky's theories of filters and binding, relational grammar, case grammar, functional syntax and Montague grammar.

L601 - Linguistic Universals and Typology

A study of selected topics in phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. The emphasis will be on cross-linguistic comparison, with data drawn from a wide range of languages. Subjects to be examined will include tonology, implicational universals in phonology, word order, relative clause, animacy, causatives, tense and aspect, definiteness, quantification and modality.

L610 - Selected Topics in Caribbean Language Structure

Students will be encouraged to apply the theoretical apparatus acquired in L20A, L20B, L20E and L600 and L601 to Caribbean data. The question of variation will be down-played and Caribbean languages will be viewed as ideal systems. Topics will be selected from:

• Morphophonemic alternation, phonotactic features

• Tense, aspect, modality

• Verb Serialisation

• Negatives

• Passive

• Relativisation

• Topicatlisation

• Morpheme classes

• Semantic deep structures

L620 - Dynamics of Language Variation

The course will discuss various approaches to language variation using Caribbean language phenomena as the main illustrations. It will look at the history of variation studies, beginning briefly with linguistic geography, structural dialectology and the break with monolithic assumptions of generative grammar.

The following major areas will be covered.

• Historical comparative variation as a foundation for current variation

• Variable rules

• Quantitative methods in Sociolinguistics, correlations with non-linguistics data

• Implicational grammar

• Polylectal grammar

L630 - The Structure of Caribbean English(es)

The course will focus on the very important but largely unstudied field of acrolecal speech (in continuum situations) and "educated speech" (Trinidad, Barbados). It will study processes and criteria of language standardisation and especially of the emergence of variant regional norms of standard language (American English, Canadian French, Indian English etc.) and will then look at the structure of the emerging West Indian norms.
Since there is  virtually no work on this latter area, this part of the course will largely be of the "Workshop" type devoted to the discovery of the structure of West Indian English.

L640 - Theoretical Issues in Applied Linguistics

This course will be concerned with in-depth examination of selected topics from current research on language usage and language acquisition. wherever possible, illustrations will be drawn from the Caribbean. Topics will include the study of language in context (e.g. Speech Act Theory, Conversational Implications, Conversational Analysis) as well as the roles of cognitive process, language function and language structure in the linguistic development of young children and issues in second language acquisition theory (e.g. processes involved, the role of particular variables such as age, first language input, affective variables). The relation between the above-mentioned subjects and recent approaches to language teaching will be discussed, with reference to teaching of English and of Foreign Languages in the Caribbean context. Relevant topics in this area will include the teaching of language as communication and the role of grammar in language teaching.

L650 - Research Paper