Linguistics

Overview

Language and linguistics

Linguistics is the systematic study of human language. Superficially, there's huge variation among the world's languages, and linguists not only describe the diverse characteristics of individual languages but also explore properties which all languages share and which offer insight into the human mind.

The interdisciplinary study of linguistics draws on methods and knowledge from a wide range of subjects. For instance, the study of meaning draws on philosophy, whereas the analysis of the speech signal uses methods from physics and engineering, while the study of language acquisition draws on psychology.

This variety is what makes linguistics fascinating - one day you might be poring over a medieval text for evidence of how the grammar of a language has changed, and the next, learning about how the larynx creates sound energy for speech, or how we can record brain responses to a categorisation task.

The Department

The Department has internationally acknowledged expertise across an unusually wide range of language-related disciplines, both theoretical and applied. Situated within the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics benefits greatly from colleagues specialising in the linguistics of particular European languages.

Changing course

Part II of Linguistics is also available to some undergraduates who have successfully completed Part I of another course. It may be taken either as a two-year course or as a one-year course for those who have taken a two-year Part I. Alternatively, it's possible to choose linguistics options within the Modern and Medieval Languages course.

After Linguistics

Linguistics graduates find employment in a wide range of professions. The broad interdisciplinary training means that our graduates emerge with transferable skills that are greatly sought after by employers; for example, students learn to analyse quantitative data, construct abstract (grammatical) models, and test alternative hypotheses.

Linguistics provides a particularly good preparation for vocational training too, in fields such as speech therapy, teaching, speech and language technology (eg developing speech recognition and translation software), law, translation, interpreting, and even forensic linguistics. Familiarity with the range of human languages is also a huge advantage in careers where rapid learning of unfamiliar languages may be involved, such as the Diplomatic Service.