Linguistics

Typical offer: A*AA in A Levels (or equivalent). 

Required subjects: none

Typical number of Linguistics undergraduates admitted per year: 1-2

Submitted written work requirements: see our Written Work webpage

Admissions assessment: College-registered assessment

Linguistics is the systematic study of human language. It covers a wide range of topics, including: language in society, language variation and what happens when languages come into contact with one another (Sociolinguistics); language change (Historical Linguistics); how meaning is conveyed (Semantics and Pragmatics); how sounds are produced and perceived and what speech looks like when it is subjected to acoustic analysis (Phonetics); and what 'goes wrong' when speakers produce speech errors, someone suffers a form of language impairment, or children are deprived of the language input they require to acquire language successfully (Psycholinguistics).

This variety is what makes Linguistics fascinating - one moment you might be poring over a medieval text for evidence of how the grammar of a language has changed, and the next, learning about how the larynx creates sound energy for speech.

Discover more about the undergraduate course on the departmental website.

Linguistics is a relatively small Department but Corpus admits one or two undergraduates in most years. Corpus Linguistics students benefit from the small size of the College as it is easy to get to know Linguistics students in other year groups. Linguistics students here also share lectures with students at other Cambridge colleges and therefore form good friendships with students across the University.

Our Linguistics graduates find employment in a wide range of professions. Its broad interdisciplinary training, which develops the ability to analyse data, construct abstract (grammatical) models, and test alternative hypotheses, means that Linguistics graduates emerge with the kind of transferable intellectual skills that are highly sought after by employers. Careers for which Linguistics provides a particularly good and specific preparation for vocational training include speech therapy, teaching (especially of languages), translation and interpreting, speech & language technology (developing and improving computer-based applications such as speech recognition and translation software), journalism, publishing, and even forensic linguistics. Familiarity with the range and essence of human languages is a huge advantage in careers where the rapid learning of unfamiliar languages may be involved, such as the Diplomatic Service. The ability to construct and express logical arguments, together with the more general sensitivity to language that studying Linguistics entails, means that linguists also do very well in law.

The main requirement for studying Linguistics is a lively curiosity about the nature of language. Linguistics is interdisciplinary, so there is no specific A Level (or equivalent) requirement; the Department welcomes applicants with an outstanding academic profile, regardless of whether this happens to be Science-oriented or Arts-centred. Some formal study of language - through learning languages and/or English Language A-level - does, however, serve as good preparation.

To find out whether you are interested in Linguistics, take some time to explore the subject independently. Our suggested super-curricular resources (below) is a good place to start.

• The Cambridge Linguistics department have a list of suggested reading. This shouldn't be viewed as a compulsory reading list - we suggest that you pick a few things that you are particularly interested in as a starting point.
• HE+ Linguistics is a good introduction to studying Linguistics at university
• All Things Linguistic blog
• University of Oxford Linguistics podcasts