Linguistics and Russian

Linguistics is the scientific study of language: not the prescriptive question of how language should be used, but the empirical question of how it actually works across every level from sounds and words through to sentences, meaning, context and social variation. It examines how language is acquired, how it changes over time, how it varies across communities, and how it relates to thought, identity and power. Russian, meanwhile, is the most widely spoken Slavic language in the world, a gateway into one of Europe's most expansive and historically significant literary and intellectual traditions, and a language whose structural features make it a particularly rich object of linguistic analysis in its own right.

At the University of Manchester, this four-year full-time degree allows you to develop genuine competence in both disciplines. You will study linguistic theory across its core subfields, including phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics and sociolinguistics, building the analytical tools to examine any language with rigour. Alongside this, you will develop your Russian language skills from the level appropriate at entry, reading literature, engaging with cultural and historical texts, and building speaking and writing proficiency.

The programme includes a sandwich year with work placement opportunities, giving you the chance to spend time in a professional environment and to develop your practical language skills and employability alongside your academic studies. Typical entry is around 152 UCAS tariff points.

Graduates from Linguistics and Russian go on to careers in translation and interpreting, diplomacy and international organisations, journalism, academia, language technology, speech and language therapy, publishing and education. Russian language expertise combined with analytical linguistic training is particularly valued in intelligence, defence, international business, and organisations engaged with Russia and the former Soviet space. Postgraduate routes include translation studies, applied linguistics, language teaching, Russian literature and culture, or specialist master's programmes in areas such as computational linguistics and natural language processing.