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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
To take GATE mock tests, first choose a reliable source like GATE official portal, NPTEL, Made Easy, or ACE Engineering. Sign up or register online to access the full-length tests. Simulate the actual 3-hour exam with proper timing and no distractions. Attempt complete tests to practice time management and exam strategy. After each test, analyze your performance to identify weak areas and revise. Regularly taking 1–2 mocks per week helps improve speed, accuracy, and confidence.
For GATE Life Sciences question banks, you can go for GATE past year's papers to understand the exam style, and you can buy online test series from a coaching site for lots of new practice questions.
you can get question book one from publishers like IFAS or GKP. Also use free online resources like NPTEL and EasyBiologyClass for extra practice and study materials. Good luck!
Here are GATE exam aptitude topics from high to low weightage:
1. English Comprehension & Vocabulary
2.Numerical Ability and Arithmetic
3.Logical Reasoning & Analytical Ability
4.Data Interpretation
5.Geometry & Mensuration basic
6.Algebra basic
7.Probability and Statistics
8.General Knowledge and Miscellaneous Verbal like odd one out, analogy, word usage.
Hello,
Here is the link where you can get required question paper : GATE 2024 EE Question Paper
Hope it helps !
If you are needed to prepare for gate exam from ece batch there 65 questions in exam pattern total marks is 100 here 15% is aptitude general questions then 15% mathematics engineering questions , 70% core subjects you need to concentrate on more core related subject like controls system , signals and system , digital circut these topics covers most of the basics but you need to prepare more topics in core subjects and create a structure plan for yourself dialy attend mock test with time duration these steps will help to prepare very easily.
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