Statutes and Ordinances of the University of Cambridge
CHAPTER IV
pp. 373–376
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS AND TRIPOS EXAMINATIONS

The provisions contained in this Chapter are Regulations of the General Board

In this section

TRIPOS EXAMINATIONS

LINGUISTICS TRIPOS

Amended by Notice (Reporter, 2016–17, p. 667)

Three Parts.

1. The Linguistics Tripos shall consist of three Parts: Part I, Part IIa, and Part IIb. There shall be a separate class-list for each Part.

Standing of candidates.

2. A student who has not obtained honours in an Honours Examination may be a candidate for honours in Part I, provided that he or she has kept one term and that three complete terms have not passed after his or her first term of residence.

3. A student who has obtained honours in another Honours Examination may be a candidate for honours in Part IIa,1 in the year after so obtaining honours, provided that he or she has kept four terms and that twelve complete terms have not passed after his or her first term of residence.

4. A student who has obtained honours in Part IIa of the Linguistics Tripos may be a candidate for honours in Part IIb,1 in the year after so obtaining honours, provided that he or she has kept seven terms and that fifteen terms have not passed after his or her first term of residence.

5. No student shall be a candidate for more than one Part, or for one Part and also for another Honours Examination, in the same term.

6. No student who has been a candidate for any Part shall again be a candidate for the same Part.

Examiners and Assessors.

7. For each Part of the Tripos, the Faculty Board of Modern and Medieval Languages shall nominate such number of Examiners as they think sufficient to conduct the examination, and shall have power to nominate one or more Assessors to assist the Examiners in any of the subjects of the examination. If required to do so, Assessors shall set papers in the subject or subjects assigned to them, shall mark the answers of the candidates in those papers, shall assess dissertations, and shall advise the Examiners on the performance of candidates in the examination. Assessors may be summoned to meetings of the Examiners for the purpose of consultation and advice, but shall not be entitled to vote.

8. The papers set by each Examiner or Assessor shall be submitted to the Chair of the Examiners and one other Examiner for their approval.

Supplementary regulations.

9. The Faculty Board shall have power:

  1. (a)to issue from time to time supplementary regulations defining or limiting all or any of the subjects of examination and determining the scope and character of the papers, and to amend or withdraw such supplementary regulations as occasion may require, due care being taken that sufficient notice is given of any change;
  2. (b)to determine the credit to be assigned to each paper, and to establish guidelines to be followed by the Examiners for assessing candidates’ work in the examination and for drawing up the class-list;
  3. (c)to specify papers which shall include coursework or other exercises in addition to the written paper. The details of the coursework or other exercises required of candidates and the arrangements for the submission of such coursework or other exercises shall be prescribed by the Faculty Board from time to time. Each candidate will be required to sign a declaration that the coursework or other written exercises are her or his own work, unaided except as may be specified in the declaration, and that they do not contain material that has already been used to any substantial extent for a comparable purpose.
Variable subjects.

10. Before the end of the Easter Term each year the Faculty Board shall give notice of any variable subjects for the examination to be held in the academical year next following; provided that the Board shall have the power of subsequently issuing amendments if they have due reason for doing so and if they are satisfied that no student’s preparation for the examination is adversely affected.

11. In the class-lists for each Part of the Tripos the names of the candidates who obtain honours shall be placed in three classes, of which the second shall be divided into two divisions. The names in the first and third classes, and in each division of the second class, shall be arranged in alphabetical order. For special excellence a mark of distinction may be awarded.

Scheme of examination.

12. The papers set for the Linguistics Tripos shall be as follows:

Section A

 Paper  1.

Sounds and words (also serves as Paper X.8 of Part Ib of the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Tripos and Paper Li. 1 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper  2.

Structures and meanings (also serves as Paper X.3 of Part Ib of the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Tripos and as Paper Li. 2 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper  3.

Language, brain, and society (also serves as Paper Li. 3 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper  4.

History and varieties of English (also serves as Paper Li. 4 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

Section B

 Paper  5.

Linguistic theory

Section C

 Paper  6.

Phonetics (also serves as Paper Li. 6 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper  7.

Phonological theory (also serves as Paper Li. 7 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper  8.

Morphology (also serves as Paper Li. 8 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper  9.

Syntax (also serves as Paper Li. 9 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper 10.

Semantics and pragmatics (also serves as Paper Li. 10 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper 11.

Historical linguistics (also serves as Paper 15(a) of Part II of the Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic Tripos, as Paper 43A of Part II of the English Tripos, and as Paper Li. 11 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)2

 Paper 12.

History of ideas on language (also serves as Paper Li. 12 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)3

 Paper 13.

History of the English language (also serves as Paper 15(b) of Part II of the Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic Tripos, Paper Li. 13 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos, and as Paper 43B of Part II of the English Tripos)3

 Paper 14.

History of the French language (also serves as Paper Li. 14 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)2

 Paper 15.

First and second language acquisition (also serves as Paper Li. 15 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper 16.

Psychology of language processing and learning (also serves as Paper Li. 16 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper 17.

A subject in linguistics to be specified by the Faculty Board from time to time (also serves as Paper Li. 17 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)4

 Paper 18.

Computational linguistics (also serves as Paper Li. 18 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper 19.

A subject in linguistics to be specified by the Faculty Board from time to time4

Section D

 Paper 20.

The language of Italy (Paper It. 10 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper 21.

The Hispanic languages (Paper Sp. 11 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper 22.

History of the German language (Paper Ge. 11 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper 23.

The history of the Russian language (Paper Sl. 8 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper 24.

German: a linguistic introduction (Paper Ge. 7 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)5

 Paper 25.

The Romance languages (Paper CS 1 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper 26.

The Slavonic languages (Paper CS 3 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper 27.

Celtic philology (Paper 12 of Part II of the Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic Tripos)

 Paper 28.

Elements of comparative linguistics (Paper E1 of Part II of the Classical Tripos)

 Paper 29.

The Greek language (Paper E2 of Part II of the Classical Tripos)

 Paper 30.

The Latin language (Paper E3 of Part II of the Classical Tripos)

 Paper 31.

Germanic philology (Paper 11 of Part II of the Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic Tripos)

 Paper 32.

Cognitive neuroscience and experimental psychology (Paper PBS 4 of the Psychological and Behavioural Sciences Tripos)

 Paper 33.

The French language: variation and change (Paper Fr. 13 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

 Paper 34.

Structure and varieties of Italian (Paper It. 2 of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos)

13. A candidate for Part I of the Linguistics Tripos shall offer Papers 1–4.

14. (i) A candidate who takes the examination for Part IIa after obtaining honours in Part I of the Linguistics Tripos shall offer four papers chosen from Sections C and D.

(ii) A candidate who takes the examination for Part IIa in the year next after obtaining honours in another Honours Examination shall offer:

  1. (a)Papers 1 and 2;
  2. (b)two papers chosen from Sections C and D;

provided that a candidate who has previously offered one or both of Papers 1 and 2 in a previous Honours Examination shall substitute that paper or both papers by either one further paper or two further papers, respectively, chosen from Sections C and D.

15. A candidate who takes the examination for Part IIb shall offer:

  1. (a)Paper 5;
  2. (b)two papers chosen from Sections C and D, provided that a candidate shall not offer a paper that he or she has previously offered in another Honours Examination;
  3. (c)a dissertation submitted under the provisions of Regulation 16.
Dissertation.

16. The following provisions shall apply to a dissertation offered under Regulation 15:

  1. (a)Every dissertation shall be on a subject that falls within the scope of papers from Section C. A candidate shall not offer a dissertation on a subject that falls substantially within the scope of any paper that he or she intends to offer in the examination.
  2. (b)A candidate shall submit the proposed title of the dissertation, together with a statement of the scheme of papers to be offered in the examination, through her or his Tutor to the Secretary of the Faculty Board so as to arrive not later than the third Friday of the Full Michaelmas Term next preceding the examination. A candidate shall obtain the approval of the proposed title by the Faculty Board not later than the last day of that Full Term.
  3. (c)When the Faculty Board have approved a title, no change may subsequently be made in it, except that a candidate may apply to the Faculty Board for permission to revise the title of that dissertation; such an application shall be submitted not later than the second Friday of the Full Lent Term next preceding the examination.
  4. (d)A dissertation shall be in English, but quotations from primary sources may be given in the language of the original provided an English translation is also given. A dissertation shall be typewritten, except where a non-Roman or symbolic typeface is necessary and cannot be provided; in such a case hand-written or photocopied extracts may be inserted. A dissertation shall normally be of not more than 10,000 words in length (including notes but excluding appendices and bibliography).
  5. (e)Two copies of the dissertation shall be submitted, in accordance with detailed arrangements approved by the Faculty Board, so as to reach the Secretary of the Faculty Board not later than the Monday of the last week of the Full Lent Term next preceding the examination. Each candidate will be required to sign a declaration that the dissertation is her or his own work, unaided except as may be specified in the declaration, and that it does not contain material that has already been used to any substantial extent for a comparable purpose.
  6. (f)A candidate may be called for viva voce examination on the subject of her or his dissertation.

SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATION

Paper 6. Phonetics

The examination for this paper will consist of a written paper and a practical component. The practical component will assess competence in impressionistic and quantitative phonetic methods.

Footnotes

  1. 1. See also the regulations for Affiliated Students (p. 169).a b
  2. 2. This paper will be suspended in 2017–18 and in each alternate year thereafter until further notice.a b
  3. 3. This paper will be suspended in 2018–19 and in each alternate year thereafter until further notice.a b
  4. 4. This paper is not available for examination in 2017–18.a b
  5. 5. This paper is only available to candidates for Part IIa of the Linguistics Tripos.a