Language and Linguistics

Language and linguistics is the scientific and humanistic study of human language in all its dimensions: how it is structured, how it is acquired, how it changes over time, how it varies across communities and contexts, and how sound becomes meaning. It is a discipline that creates a bridge between natural science and the humanities, drawing on cognitive science, neuroscience, anthropology, psychology, and philosophy to answer questions about one of the most remarkable and distinctively human capacities. Understanding language means understanding something fundamental about what it is to be human.

At the University of Aberdeen, this four-year, full-time degree explores the ways in which we acquire languages as children and adults, how languages vary and change, and the structure and meaning of language at every level from sounds to sentences to discourse. You will develop the analytical tools to investigate language empirically, applying linguistic methods to real data, and you will encounter the diversity of the world's languages and the social and cultural dimensions of how they function. A year abroad is incorporated into the programme, broadening your experience of linguistic environments and cultural contexts beyond the UK.

A typical entry tariff of 168 points reflects the academic standard of this programme at a research-active university.

The skills developed in a language and linguistics degree are highly transferable. Graduates work in speech and language therapy, translation and interpreting, language teaching, publishing, journalism, communications, natural language processing and technology, research, and a wide range of roles where understanding how language works is an asset. Postgraduate study in linguistics, applied linguistics, language teaching, or a specialist area such as sociolinguistics, phonetics, or computational linguistics is a well-supported further step for those seeking research or professional specialisation.