BA Linguistics

Student with I Pod by C. Elmer This course has an extremely flexible structure designed to let you devise your own syllabus and have a completely free choice of options in your second and final years. Your first year introduces you to linguistic techniques used to describe the structure of language, how we use language, and how we acquire and process language (and you have the choice of taking an option on how to teach English as a foreign language as well if you wish). By the end of your first year, you will have a good idea of the areas of Linguistics which interest you most, and we then let you choose which areas of Linguistics you want to carry on studying in your second and third years. For example, if Psycholinguistics and English Language options are the ones which interest you most, you can take options in just these two areas. But if you find that lots of different things interest you, you can take a combination of modules on language variation, language change, language structure, language acquisition, language disorders, language processing, language learning, or language teaching. The course is suitable both for students who have an A-level in English, and for those who don’t. In each year of the degree, you take four modules (Click on the module titles for more details of each module).

Your First Year

Your first year is a foundation year in which you learn about linguistic techniques used to analyse a variety of aspects of the structure, use and acquisition/processing of English (and can additionally choose to take an option in teaching English as a foreign language, if you wish). You take the following four modules in your first year:

Module	Brief details
Foundations of Linguistics	Introduction to linguistic techniques used to analyse sounds, structures, meaning and use in English
Foundations of Sociolinguistics	Introduction to techniques used to study how factors such as social class, age, sex, ethnicity etc. affect the way we speak English
Foundations of Psycholinguistics	Introduction to techniques used to study how we acquire and process words and sentences
One Linguistics option or Modern Languages option	You can take Foundations of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, or an option in a Modern Language or another subject

Your Second Year

Your second year is a consolidation year in which we build on and extend the foundation acquired in your first year while also preparing you for the specialist options you are to take in your final year. You take four modules (or more if your selection includes half-options) chosen from the set of options specified below:

Module	Brief details
Three second-year Linguistics options	Click on the link for details of the range of Linguistics options available
One Linguistics option or Modern Languages option or Outside option	This could be another Linguistics option, or a Project, or an option in a Modern Language or another subject

Your Final Year

Your final year is a specialisation year in which you choose a range of specialist options, and take four modules (or more if your selection includes half-options) chosen from the set of options specified below:

Module	Brief details
Three final-year Linguistics options	Click on the link for details of the range of Linguistics options available
Research Project or Linguistics option or Modern Languages option or Outside option	This could be another Linguistics option, or a Project, or an option in a Modern Language or another subject

>> Entry Qualifications and Further Information (University Course Finder Information)

For details of other undergraduate degrees offered by the Department of Language & Linguistics, see BA Programmes.