Linguistics and Social Anthropology

Linguistics and social anthropology is a combination that places language at the centre of the study of human social life. Linguistics analyses how language is structured, how it varies across communities, how it is acquired and used in communication, and how meaning is constructed through sound, word and sentence. Social anthropology examines the diversity of human cultures and social arrangements through ethnographic fieldwork and comparative analysis, asking what it means to be human in different social contexts and how communities make sense of their world.

Together they approach one of the most central facts about human life: that we are linguistic and social animals, and that these two dimensions of our existence are inseparable.

At the University of Edinburgh, this four-year full-time programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study at a partner institution in another country and experience the linguistic and cultural diversity that both disciplines study. Edinburgh has strong research traditions in both linguistics and social anthropology, and the programme draws on these to provide a rigorous and intellectually stimulating education in both fields. You will study phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and sociolinguistics alongside ethnographic method, social and cultural theory, kinship, religion, political organisation and the anthropology of language itself.

Graduates work in applied linguistics, language teaching, speech and language therapy (with further training), natural language processing, social research, international development, NGOs, cultural organisations, education, the civil service and academic research. The combination of formal linguistic analysis and culturally sensitive ethnographic thinking is particularly valuable in any profession that works across language and cultural boundaries. Postgraduate study in linguistics, social anthropology, applied linguistics, language documentation, development studies or cognitive science is a natural progression for those who wish to develop their expertise.