Undergraduate Language and Linguistics 2024-2025

How does the way we use language shape our lives, and how does the way we live shape the language we use? Moving beyond strict notions of structure, this course explores communication in practice, examining how language works in various contexts and cultures. It addresses contemporary social issues that are principally or partly communicative in nature, challenging common misconceptions and giving students an understanding of the contribution awareness of language can make to numerous fields.

How do we get from Beowulf to ‘bae’? From Chaucer to ‘sashay away’? This course will look at the development of English over the last millennium and beyond, examining language changes in sound, structure and meaning. You will also be introduced to present-day study of English, its spread as a truly global language, and how all of this can add to our understanding of language in the modern world and in the past. 

This course opens up new ways for students to think about language by introducing them to the fundamentals of English linguistics. Students will learn how to identify and analyse the major "building blocks" of language in phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Examples for illustration and discussion will be drawn from varieties of English spoken in the British Isles and worldwide, with lectures and tutorials geared to providing students with an active vocabulary with which to discuss language, and essential tools with which to analyse its structure and function.

Language is central to our humanity. Language and society are inextricably linked. Language unites; language divides. This course will develop your understanding of the social nature of language, providing insight into, among other things, the relationship between gender and language, language death and the issue of language policy and planning.

We perceive language as an integrated whole, but in fact it exists on many levels. This course investigates these layers of structure through examination of speech sounds, word formation, and sentence construction. We will consider the theory behind these areas of phonology, morphology, and syntax, looking at how they function independently and interact. Students will gain skills to undertake analysis of language structure and think critically about structural elements fundamental to English.

Students will be introduced to a range of conceptions and perspectives on discourse, drawn from disciplines such as linguistics, anthropology, semiotics, social psychology, sociology, and communication studies. They will examine what the study of discourse reveals about the nature of language, social interaction, power relations, and the construction of meaning. They will learn the basic principles of analytical methods for discourse analysis.

Students will also gain practical experience in applying these approaches to a variety of discourses, including political texts, the media, academic writing, literary texts, and advertisements.

Language change is an absolute reality. It happens to real people in real contexts. This course will provide you with an advanced but practical sense of the mechanisms by which language changes. A strong Sociolinguistic element will also give you the opportunity to perceive how change is brought about by processes connected to class, gender and ethnicity.

Language acquisition is a human feat like no other: accomplished by children in their early years with no apparent effort, but sometimes incredibly difficult for adults. This course looks at how people come to know languages, using existing research in the field and real-life examples to examine stages of linguistic development and theoretical approaches to this hotly debated complex process.  

The course will introduce core concepts in language planning and policy, and will critically examine theories relating to language shift and to methods of reversing language shift.

The course will analyse the impact of language policy on the insular Celtic languages, with particular reference to Welsh, Irish and Scottish Gaelic, and it will critically assess contemporary measures taken to address the decline of these languages. 

In previous courses we have focused on articulatory phonetics, gaining an understanding of how speech sounds are produced in the vocal tract. This course links this knowledge to investigation of acoustic phonetics: the analysis of soundwaves in order to identify different phonetic features. Each week there is a seminar to introduce phonetic theory, followed by a practical in which you will learn how to use freely available software to conduct acoustic analysis of your own and others’ voices.

Students will be introduced to a range of conceptions and perspectives on discourse, drawn from disciplines such as linguistics, anthropology, semiotics, social psychology, sociology, and communication studies. They will examine what the study of discourse reveals about the nature of language, social interaction, power relations, and the construction of meaning. They will learn the basic principles of analytical methods for
discourse analysis.

Students will also gain practical experience in applying these approaches to a variety of discourses, including political texts, the media, academic writing, literary texts, and advertisements.

Language change is an absolute reality. It happens to real people in real contexts. This course will provide you with an advanced but practical sense of the mechanisms by which language changes. A strong Sociolinguistic element will also give you the opportunity to perceive how change is brought about by processes connected to class, gender and ethnicity.

Once you have successfully completed three years of university-level study of Linguistics, this course allows you to develop and carry out an independent piece of research on a topic of your choice. It might be that a particular taught course has inspired you to explore a topic in more depth; your own reading might have prompted you to wonder about a particular question. You will be supervised by a member of the department who will be happy to give advice and support as you complete your dissertation of 7000-8000 words.

Dissertations are completed in HS2 (spring), but students will be offered research training workshops in HS1 (autumn), and will be expected to submit a short research proposal for their dissertion in December.

The course will introduce core concepts in language planning and policy, and will critically examine theories relating to language shift and to methods of reversing language shift.

The course will analyse the impact of language policy on the insular Celtic languages, with particular reference to Welsh, Irish and Scottish Gaelic, and it will critically assess contemporary measures taken to address the decline of these languages. 

In previous courses we have focused on articulatory phonetics, gaining an understanding of how speech sounds are produced in the vocal tract. This course links this knowledge to investigation of acoustic phonetics: the analysis of soundwaves in order to identify different phonetic features. Each week there is a seminar to introduce phonetic theory, followed by a practical in which you will learn how to use freely available software to conduct acoustic analysis of your own and others’ voices.