BA English Language and Linguistics

Our English Language and Linguistics degree combines the systematic study of the human capacity for language in all its expressions across the world with an added focus on the English language.

You will learn about all aspects of human language and how linguistic knowledge is acquired, produced and understood in different contexts. . You will discover what all languages have in common, what distinguishes them and how they change over time. You will also come to appreciate varieties in language, including historical changes, accents, distinct social registers as well as differences between spoken and written language.

Acquiring career-enhancing skills, you will become adept in producing multimodal texts (think websites, blogs and magazine covers) using specific software packages. You will gain skills from analysing numerical data or speech in phonetics to deciphering patterns in large collections of written and/or spoken language known as corpora.

We have specialist modules with careers in education, the media, health, and the legal process in mind. Our community is welcoming, international in outlook and home to the globally respected Centre for Language and Communication Research. We pride ourselves on nurturing a friendly, personalised and supportive environment, with regular one-to-one meetings.

Studying for a degree in English Language and Linguistics develops abilities to analyse and critique the language that surrounds us but also helps develop a strong skillset. Our graduates are known for their ability to combine the best of humanities (like communicating effectively) with the best of social science skills (technical analysis through systematic and critical handling of data for instance).