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GATE Exam Date:07 Feb' 26 - 08 Feb' 26
GATE Linguistics Syllabus 2026 (XH-C3) - IIT Guwahati has published the GATE 2026 Linguistics syllabus online at, gate2026.iitg.ac.in. Aspirants can refer to the same below. The GATE Humanities and Social Sciences (XH) paper has an optional subject of Linguistics. The GATE Linguistics syllabus 2026 comprises topics based on Historical Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Language and Linguistics, Levels of Grammar and Grammatical Analysis, Methods of Analysis, Applied Linguistics, Areal Typology, Universals and Cross-linguistic Features. Those who choose this subject must prepare using the syllabus of GATE Linguistics 2026. The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering is an online exam. GATE 2026 will be held on February 7, 8, 14 and 15, 2026.
Direct link to download the GATE 2026 Linguistics Syllabus
Aspirants can check the complete syllabus of GATE 2026 Linguistics as released by IIT Guwahati here.
Syllabus | Topics |
GATE Linguistics syllabus for Language and Linguistics |
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GATE Linguistics syllabus for Levels of Grammar and Grammatical Analysis | A. Phonetics and Phonology: Vocal tract anatomy; phonation; articulatory parameters; classification of sounds; gestural theory of speech production; cardinal vowels; secondary and coarticulation; suprasegmentals - length, stress, tone, intonation and juncture; IPA; basic physics of sound and phonation and articulation; acoustic cues for speech sounds; organisation of phones into phonemes; phoneme inventories and cross-linguistic properties; syllable structure and phonological properties; principles of phonological analysis - phonetic similarity, contrastive and complementary distribution, free variation, allophones; linear and non-linear approaches; levels of representation; phonological rules; distinctive features (major class, manner, place, etc.); feature geometry; rule ordering, markedness and unspecified featural values; core principles of lexical phonology, optimality theory, autosegmental phonology and prosodic morphology. B. Morphology: Concepts of morpheme, morph, allomorph, zero allomorph, conditions on allomorphs; lexeme and word; types of morphemes – structural and functional; affixes vs clitics; grammatical categories; morphological theories – generative, lexicalist, process and distributed morphology; identification of morphemes and parts of speech; alternation; morphophonology; inflection vs. derivation; conjugation and declension; word creation and word formation rules and processes; creativity and productivity, blocking, bracketing paradoxes, constraints on affix ordering; mental lexicon; lexical categories; valency changing operations. C. Syntax: Basic syntactic units and their types: word, phrase, clause, sentence and their description and generation; grammatical and case relations; key ideas from syntactic theories, Generative Grammars including Minimalist Program, HPSG, Relational Grammar and Lexical Functional Grammar; phrase structure rules (including X-bar theory); universal grammar and cross-linguistic properties; idea of grammaticality judgements; solving the language acquisition problem; diagnostics of structure; syntactic phenomena such as movement, binding, ellipses, case-checking, islands, argument structure etc.; unergatives and unaccusatives. D. Semantics and Pragmatics: Types of meaning, lexical and compositional; syntax-semantics interface (semantic roles, binding, scope, LF etc.); sense and reference, connotation and denotation, lexical semantic relations (homonymy, hypo/hypernymy, antonymy, synonymy, ambiguity); prototype theory and componential analysis; sentence meaning and truth conditions, contradictions, entailment; basic set theory; propositions, truth values, sentential connectives; arguments, predicates, quantifiers, variables; in/definiteness, mood and modality; language use in context; sentence meaning and utterance meaning; speech acts; deixis; presupposition and implicature: Gricean maxims; information structure; politeness, power and solidarity; discourse analysis. |
GATE Linguistics syllabus for Historical Linguistics |
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GATE Linguistics syllabus for Sociolinguistics |
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GATE Linguistics syllabus for Areal Typology, Universals, Cross-linguistic Features |
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GATE Linguistics syllabus for Methods of Analysis |
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GATE Linguistics syllabus for Applied Linguistics |
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
GATE exam 2026 will be held on February 7, 8, 14, and 15.
As per the past year exam analysis, GATE 2026 is expected to be of a moderate to difficult level.
Candidates can download the Gate Linguistics syllabus 2026 pdf on the official website.
Yes, IIT Guwahati has released the syllabus for GATE 2026.
Aspirants can start their preparation for GATE 2026 as soon as possible. Early preparation will lend you extra time for revision.
No, But any changes in the GATE syllabus shall be intimated to the students.
On Question asked by student community
Hello,
If your GATE 2026 application shows "under scrutiny," continue to monitor your applicant portal and registered email for updates, as this is a routine process where officials verify your details. An "under scrutiny" status does not mean your application is rejected; you may be notified of discrepancies and given a chance to correct them during the application correction window, which opens later. Keep your application details accurate and prepare for the exam while waiting for the correction window to open.
I hope it will clear your query!!
Hello,
Yes, you as a Bachelor of Science graduate in home science can appear for the GATE 2026 exam, as the eligibility criteria include graduates from "Science" and other fields, as well as those in the 3rd year or higher of an undergraduate program.
I hope it will clear your query!!
Hey! The GATE exam (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) is very important for long-term career growth. It opens opportunities for postgraduate studies (M.Tech, MS, PhD) in top institutes like IITs and NITs and is also used by many public sector companies (PSUs) for recruitment, often with higher salary packages. In the long run, qualifying GATE can enhance your technical knowledge, career prospects, and credibility in the engineering field.
If your GATE application shows failed status even after a successful payment, don’t worry, this usually happens due to server or transaction update delays. First, wait for 24–48 hours as sometimes the status gets updated automatically. If it still shows failed, you should raise a query through the GATE application portal by providing your enrollment ID and payment receipt or transaction details. You can also contact the GATE zonal office via email or helpline with proof of payment. Keeping a screenshot of the payment success message will also help in resolving the issue quickly.
Hi dear candidate,
You can refer to the online E Books for GATE examination available on our official website that you can download anytime.
Kindly refer to the link attached below to access them for practice.
Link: GATE E-books and Sample Papers
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