Linguistics

Linguistics is the scientific study of language, one of the most distinctively human of all capacities and one of the most complex. It examines how language is structured in terms of its sounds, words, sentences, and meanings; how it varies across communities and changes over time; how it is acquired by children; and how it relates to thought, culture, and social identity. The discipline brings systematic analytical tools to phenomena that are so familiar we usually take them entirely for granted, and the results are genuinely surprising.

At Queen Mary University of London, this BA provides a strong understanding of the essential building blocks of human language, covering the structure of sentences (syntax), the sounds of language (phonetics and phonology), and the nature of meaning (semantics). You will also study sociolinguistics, examining how language varies with region, class, gender, and other social factors, and exploring the extraordinary diversity of the world's languages. The programme runs over four years full-time, giving you a thorough grounding in the discipline and the opportunity to develop specialist expertise in areas of particular interest.

Graduates of linguistics programmes pursue careers in language teaching, speech and language therapy, natural language processing and computational linguistics, translation, lexicography, publishing, the civil service, and education. The analytical and communication skills developed by linguistics are valued across a wide range of professional contexts. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in linguistics, applied linguistics, speech and language therapy, or computational linguistics, where the theoretical foundation of the undergraduate degree is directly applicable to advanced research and professional training.