GATE 2025 Humanities & Social Sciences (XH) Syllabus, Check Section Wise Important Topics, Exam Pattern, Marking Scheme, Best Books

A. Phonetics and Phonology: vocal tract anatomy; phonation; articulatory parameters; classification of sounds; gestural theory of speech production; cardinal vowels; secondary and co-articulation; suprasegmentals - length, stress, tone, intonation and juncture; IPA; basic physics of sound and of phonation and articulation; acousticcues 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 fromsyntactic 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 andcompositional; 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

(Can be expanded to include Interdisciplinary areas that focus on language and Language Teaching depending on interest and requirement.)

Example: Psycholinguistics: the study of how humans learn, represent, comprehend, and produce language. Topics include word recognition and storage, sentence production and comprehension, reading, speech perception, language acquisition, neural representation of language, bilingualism, and language disorders

Orthodox Systems: Sānkhya- Puruṣa, Prakṛti, Guṇas, Satkāryavāda, Mokṣa (Kaivalya), Pramāṇas and Theory of Error, Yoga – Pramāṇas, Theory of Error, Iśvara, Citta, Kleśa, Aṣṭānga-yoga, Kaivalya (Mokṣa), Nyāya – Pramāṇas, Hetvābhāsa, Iśvara, Asatkāryavāda, Theory of Error, Navya-Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika – Parataḥprāmāṇya, Padārthas (categories), Theory of Atomism (paramāṇuvāda), Mīmāmsā– Dharma, Apūrva, Mokṣa, Pramāṇas (both in Kumārila and Prabhākara), Anyathākhyāti, and, Vedānta– Advaita (Adhyāsa, Brahman, Iśvara, Ātman, Jīva, Mokṣa, Viśiṣṭādvaita (Tattva-traya, Mokṣa, and Refutation of Māyāvāda), Dvaita, Dvaitādvaita, Śuddhādvaita, Pramāṇa in Advaita and Viśiṣṭādvaita

Heterodox Systems: Cārvāka – Pramāṇa, Indian marerislism and Hedonism, Jainism- Pramāṇas, Syādvāda, Anekāntavāda, Padārtha (categories), Jīva and Ajīva, Mokṣa, Mahāvrata, Aṇuvrata, and, Buddhism – Ti-piṭaka, Sarvāstivāda, Sautrāntika, Mādhyamika, Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda, Pañca-skandha, Anityavāda, Anātmavāda, Doctrine of Momentariness, Doctrine of Dependent Origination, Pramānas, Doctrine of Two Truths, Doctrine of Tri-kāya, Ṣaḍ-pāramitās, Brahmavihāras, Pāñcaśīla, and Bodhisattva Ideal, and Upāyakauśalya.

Upaniṣads, Bhagavadgītā, and Dharmaśāstras: Philosophy of the Upaniṣads – Pure Monism, Brahmam and Ātman, Pañca-kośa, Parā-vidyā and Aparā-vidyā, Meaning of Dharma, Ṛta, Purusārtha, Śreyas and Preyas, Varṇāśrama-dharma, Dharma- Svadharma and Sādhāraṇa Dharma, Ṛna, Yajña, Karma-yoga, Sthitaprajña, Lokasaṃgraha, and Law of Karma

KāṣmiraŚaivism, Śaivasiddhānta, VīraŚaivism, Śāktism and Vaiṣṇavism: KāṣmīraŚaivism – Pratyābhijña school, Śiva and Śakti, and Conception of Kriyā, Śaivasiddhānta – God (pati) and Divine Power (śakti), Proofs for God’s Existence, Bondage and Liberation, VīraŚaivism – Philosophical basis of VīraŚaivism, Śāktism - Philosophical basis of Śāktism, and Vaiṣṇavism – Philosophical basis of Vaiṣṇavism

Vivekananda: Notion of God, Freedom and Karma, Nature of Soul/self, Practical Vedanta, and Universal Religion. Aurobindo: World Process – Involution and Evolution, Four Theories of Existence, The Supermind, Integral Yoga, and Gnostic Being. Iqbal: Nature of Intuition, Nature of Self, and Notion of God. Tagore: Humanism and Nature of Man, Notion of Religion, and Nationalism. K. C. Bhattacharyya: Concept of Absolute and Its Alternative Forms, and Notion Subjectivity and Freedom. Radhakrishnan: Nature of Ultimate Reality, Religious Experience, Intellect and Intuition, Hindu View of Life. J. Krishnamurti: Notion of Freedom, Choiceless Awareness, Truth is a Pathless Land, and Notion of Education. Gandhi: Notion of Truth, Non-violence, Satyagraha, Swaraj, and Trusteeship. Ambedkar: Annihilation of Caste, Neo-Buddhism, Democracy, and Natural Rights and Law. M. N. Roy: Radical Humanism and Materialism.

Metaphysics: Pre-Socratic Philosophy of Thales, Anaxagoras, Anaximenies, Ionians, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus and Democritus. Metaphysics of Plato and Aristotle: The question of Being (to on/ousia): Being as Idea in Plato's Phaedo, Republic and the Sophist, Being as synthesis of hyle [matter] and morphe [form] in Aristotle's Metaphysics and Physics. Problem of evil and existence of God in St. Augustine, St. Anselm, and St. Thomas Aquinas Metaphysics in Modern Philosophy: Substance, Mind-Body Dualism, Attribute, Parallelism, Pre-established harmony, the existence of God, Problem of Solipsism, Self and Personal Identity, Rejection of Metaphysics, Phenomena and Noumena, Transcendental Deduction of Categories, Being and Becoming, Absolute Idealism

Epistemology: Plato and Aristotle’s Theory of Knowledge, Doxa, Episteme, and Sophia, Method of Dialectics, Theoretical and Practical Reason, Theory of Causation, Descarte’s Method of Doubt, cogito ergo sum, Innate Ideas and its refutation, Principle of Noncontradiction, Sufficient Reason, and Identity of Indiscernible, Locke’s Three Grades of Knowledge, Berkeley’s Critique of Abstract Ideas, Hume’s Impressions and Ideas, Induction and Causality, Kant’s Copernican Revolution, Forms of Sensibility, Possibility of Synthetic a priori Judgments. Hegel’s Dialectics, Spirit, and Absolute Idealism

Ethics: Concepts of Good, Right, Justice, Duty, Obligation, Cardinal Virtues, Eudaemonism; Intuition as explained in Teleological and Deontological Theories; Egoism, Altruism, Universalism, Subjectivism, Cultural Relativism, Super-naturalism, Ethical realism and Intuitionism, Kant’s moral theory, Postulates of Morality, Good-will, Categorical Imperative, Duty, Means and ends, Maxims; Utilitarianism: Principle of Utility, Problem of Sanction and Justification of Morality, Moral theories of Bentham, J. S. Mill, Sidgwick; Theories of Punishment; Ethical Cognitivism and Non-cognitivism, Emotivism, Prescriptivism, Descriptivism

Social and Political Philosophy: Plato’s theory of Justice and State, Aristotle’s definition of State and Political Naturalism; Classical Liberalism and Social Contract Theory (Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke); Marx’s Dialectical Materialism, Alienation, and critique of Capitalism

Logic: Truth and Validity, Nature of Propositions, Categorical Syllogism, Laws of Thought Classification of Propositions Square of Opposition, Truth-Functions and Propositional Logic, Quantification and Rules of Quantification; Symbolic Logic: Use of symbols; Truth Table for testing the validity of arguments; Differences between Deductive and Inductive Logic, Causality and Mill’s Method

Approaches to research: Philosophical worldviews & criteria involved in approach. Research design: quantitative & qualitative, mixed methods

Designing research: Research problems, purpose statement, Variables and Operational Definitions, Hypothesis, Sampling

Nature of quantitative & qualitative research: Structured, semi-structured interviewing, self-completion questionnaires (Survey), observation, Experimental, Quasi-experimental, Field studies, Focus groups discussions, Narratives, Case studies, Ethnography

Ethics: Ethics in conducting and reporting research

Statistics in Psychology: Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion. Normal Probability Curve. Parametric and Non-parametric tests Effect size and Power analysis

Correlational Analysis: Correlation [Product Moment, Rank Order], Partial correlation, multiple correlation. Special Correlation Methods: Biserial, Point biserial, tetrachoric, phi coefficient. Regression: Simple linear regression, Multiple regression. Factor analysis: Assumptions, Methods, Rotation and Interpretation

Experimental Designs: ANOVA [One-way, Factorial], Randomized Block Designs, Repeated Measures Design, Latin Square, Cohort studies, Time series, MANOVA, ANCOVA. Single-subject designs

Classical Sociological Traditions: Emile Durkheim (Social Solidarity, Social Facts, Religion, Functionalism, Suicide, Anomie, Division of Labour, Law; Max Weber (Types of authority, Social action, Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, Bureaucracy, Ideal type, Methodology); Karl Marx: Class and class conflict, dialectical and historical materialism, capitalism, surplus value, alienation)

Structural-Functionalism and Structuralism: Bronislaw Malinowski; A.R. RadcliffeBrown, Talcott Parsons (AGIL, Systems approach), Robert K. Merton (Middle range theory, reference groups, latent and manifest function), Claude Levi Strauss (Myths, Structuralism)

Hermeneutic and Interpretative Traditions: G.H. Mead, Alfred Schutz (Phenomenology); Harold Garfinkel (Ethnomethodology); Erving Goffman (Symbolic interaction, dramaturgy); ∙Clifford Geertz (Culture, thick description)

Post-Modernism, Post-Structuralism and Post-Colonialism: Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, Jurgen Habermas, Anthony Giddens, Frankfurt School

Conflict theory: Ralf Dahrendorf; C Wright Mills

Indian Thinkers: M.K. Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar, Radha Kamal Mukherjee, G. S. Ghurye, M.N. Srinivas, IrawatiKarve,

Conceptualizing Social Reality: Philosophy of Science; ∙Scientific Method and Epistemology in Social Science; Hermeneutic Traditions; Objectivity and Reflexivity in Social Science; Ethics and Politics of research

Research Design: Reading Social Science Research, Data and Documents; Induction and Deduction; Fact, Concept and Theory; Hypotheses, Research Questions, Objectives

Quantitative and Qualitative Methods: Ethnography; Survey Method; Historical Method; Comparative Method

Research Techniques; Sampling; Questionnaire and Schedule; Statistical Analysis; Observation, Interview and Case study; Interpretation, Data Analysis and Report Writing

Sociological Concepts: Social Structure; Culture; Network; Status and Role; Identity; Community; Socialization; Diaspora; Values, Norms and Rules; Personhood, Habitus and Agency; Bureaucracy, Power and Authority; Self and society

Social Institutions: Marriage, Family and Kinship; Economy; Polity; Religion; Education; Law and Customs

Social Stratification: Social Difference, Hierarchy, Inequality and Marginalization: Caste and Class; Status and Power; Gender, Sexuality and Disability; Race, Tribe and Ethnicity

Social Change: Evolution and Diffusion; Modernization and Development; Social Transformations and Globalization; Social Mobility –Sanskritization, Educational and Occupational change

Agrarian Sociology and Rural Transformation: Rural and Peasant Society; CasteTribe Distinction and Continuum; Agrarian Social Structure and Emergent Class Relations; Land Ownership and Agrarian Relations; Decline of Agrarian Economy, DePeasantization and Agrarian Change; Agrarian Unrest and Peasant Movements; Feudalism, Mode of production debate; Land reforms; Panchayati Raj; Rural development programmes and community development; Green revolution and agricultural change; Peasants and farmers movements

Family, Marriage and Kinship; Theoretical Approaches: Structural-Functionalist, Alliance and Cultural; Gender Relations and Power Dynamics; Inheritance, Succession and Authority; Gender, Sexuality and Reproduction; Children, Youth and Elderly; Emotions and Family; Emergent Forms of Family; Changing Marriage Practices; Changing Care and Support Systems; Family Laws; Domestic Violence and Crime against Women; Honour Killing

Indian Society / Sociology of India: Colonial, Nationalist, Indological perspectives (G.S.Ghurye); Structural-Functional approach (M. N. Srinivas); Dialectical approach (A. R. Desai); Subaltern studies (R. Guha); Non Brahmin perspectives (Phule, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar); Feminist perspectives (LeelaDube, SharmilaRege); Social Institutions – Family, Kinship, Household, Village and Urban Settings; Social Stratification – Caste, Class, Tribe and Gender; Tradition and Modernity (M.N.Srinivas, Yogendra Singh, Dipankar Gupta); Peasants and agrarian sociology (Andre Beteille, AR Desai, D.N.Dhanagare); Village studies; Communalism and Secularism

Introduction to social movements: Nature, Definitions, Characteristics; Social Movement and Social Change; Types of social movements (Reform, Rebellion, Revival, Revolution, Insurrection, Counter Movement)

Theories of Social Movements: Structural –functional; Marxist; Resource Mobilization Theory; New Social Movements

Social Movement in India with specific reference to social basis, leadership, ideology and actions: Peasant movement; Labour movement; Dalit movement; Women’s movement, Environmental movement

Social Movements, civil society and Globalization: Social movement and its relationship with state and civil society; Social movements and impact of globalization: Debates; Issues of citizenship

Perspectives on the Study of Development: Definitions and Indices; Liberal, Marxist, and Neo-Marxist Perspectives (Dependency theory, World Systems); Epistemological Critiques of Development

State and Market: Institutions and ideologies: Planned Development and Society; Globalisation and Liberalization

The Micro-Politics of Development: Transforming Communities: Maps and Models; Knowledge and Power in Development; Re-inventing Development: Subaltern Movements; Post-colonial development; Decentralization and devolution; Participatory approaches

Sustainable Development: Post-sustainable development; Development, violence and inequality; Post-structural perspectives (Escobar); Alternative development paradigms; Feminist critique; Human development