English and Language & Linguistics

English literature and language and linguistics is a combination that explores the English language from two distinct but complementary angles. English literature immerses you in the creative uses of language, developing your capacity for close reading, critical interpretation and engagement with the cultural, historical and aesthetic dimensions of literary texts from the medieval period to the contemporary. Language and linguistics takes a more systematic approach, examining the structure, history and social functions of language as a human phenomenon, asking how sounds, words, grammar and meaning work and how language varies across communities and changes over time.

At the University of Aberdeen, which hosts one of the UK's most highly rated research hubs for English literature, language and creative writing, this four-year full-time programme gives you access to both traditions at a high level. You will develop the interpretive and analytical skills of literary study alongside the scientific and descriptive tools of linguistics, and the combination develops a richer understanding of how language works than either discipline alone provides. A year abroad is built into the programme, extending your academic and personal formation and giving you experience of how English functions in a different cultural and linguistic context.

Graduates of English literature with linguistics programmes bring an unusually broad set of skills to their careers. Publishing, journalism, copywriting, communications, broadcasting and education are all common directions for those drawn to the cultural and creative dimensions of language. Speech and language therapy, language teaching, computational linguistics, natural language processing and roles in language technology draw on the more scientific dimensions of the linguistics training.

Teaching, the civil service, the voluntary sector and arts organisations are further directions. Many graduates pursue postgraduate study in literature, linguistics, creative writing, applied linguistics or language education.