Our Doctoral Program consists of Literature and Linguistics. The former specialization is subdivided into seven fields of research: General Literature, Japanese Literature, English Literature, American Literature, French Literature, German Literature and Chinese Literature. General Literature deals with literary theories, transboundary studies in literature/culture, and comparative studies, as well as historical research of Western and Japanese literary traditions on the basis of classical studies. In the field of Japanese Literature and the others, students are expected to read and analyze literary works thoroughly from the perspective of textual criticism. Historical and theoretical research of literature is also a principal part of each national literature.
Linguistics consists of six fields of research: General Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Japanese Linguistics, English Linguistics, French Linguistics, and German Linguistics. General Linguistics comprises studies of general linguistic theory, Ancient Oriental languages, Slavic languages, Korean, and Chinese. Applied Linguistics emphasizes both theoretical and descriptive approaches to the study and research of a variety of linguistic theories, contrastive linguistics, and Japanese language education. Japanese Linguistics and the other fields aim to investigate both language-specific and universal properties of languages in terms of phonology, morphology, semantics, grammar, and history. Interdisciplinary studies are also encouraged, which incorporate both theoretical and applied research.