Overview
- Degree awarded
- Master of Arts (MA)
- Duration
- 1 year
- Entry requirements
-
We normally expect students to have a First or Upper Second class honours degree or its overseas equivalent, typically in a subject relevant to Linguistics or in Linguistics.
The application form includes a personal statement section in which you must demonstrate your knowledge of and interest in the subject (between 500 and 1,500 words).
- Number of places/applicants
- There is no limit on the number of places available.
- How to apply
- Apply online
Course options
| Full-time | Part-time | Full-time distance learning | Part-time distance learning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MA | Y | Y | N | N |
Course overview
- Gain a thorough grounding in the full breadth and depth of linguistic theory.
- Access innovative resources, including psycholinguistics and phonetics laboratories with facilities for signal analysis, speech synthesis, laryngography and electropalatography.
- Build the necessary intellectual skills to plan and carry out independent research.
Open days
Find out what it's like to study at Manchester by visiting us on one of our open days .
Drop-in for a Zoom meeting with the PGT Programme Director to discuss this programme and your application further.
- Tuesday, 17 October 2023, 1.30pm
- Tuesday, 14 November 2023, 1.30pm
- Tuesday, 5 December 2023, 1.30pm
Fees
For entry in the academic year beginning September 2025, the tuition fees are as follows:
-
MA (full-time)
UK students (per annum): £13,000
International, including EU, students (per annum): £28,500 -
MA (part-time)
UK students (per annum): £6,500
International, including EU, students (per annum): £14,250
Further information for EU students can be found on our dedicated EU page.
The fees quoted above will be fully inclusive for the course tuition, administration and computational costs during your studies.
All fees for entry will be subject to yearly review and incremental rises per annum are also likely over the duration of courses lasting more than a year for UK/EU students (fees are typically fixed for International students, for the course duration at the year of entry). For general fees information please visit: postgraduate fees . Always contact the department if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.
Self-funded international applicants for this course will be required to pay a deposit of £1000 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. This deposit will only be refunded if immigration permission is refused. We will notify you about how and when to make this payment.
Policy on additional costs
All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).
Scholarships/sponsorships
For information on available funding, please visit the School's funding pages or search the University's postgraduate funding database .
Contact details
- School/Faculty
- School of Arts, Languages and Cultures
- Contact name
- PG Taught Admissions
- MASALC@manchester.ac.uk
- Website
- http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/linguistics-and-english-language/
- School/Faculty
-
See: About us
Courses in related subject areas
Use the links below to view lists of courses in related subject areas.
Entry requirements
Academic entry qualification overview
We normally expect students to have a First or Upper Second class honours degree or its overseas equivalent, typically in a subject relevant to Linguistics or in Linguistics.
The application form includes a personal statement section in which you must demonstrate your knowledge of and interest in the subject (between 500 and 1,500 words).
English language
If you have obtained a different qualification, please check our English language requirements to ensure that it is accepted and equivalent to the required standard.
English language test validity
Other international entry requirements
Application and selection
How to apply
Advice to applicants
As there is a high demand for our courses, please ensure you submit all supporting documentation with your application and ensure that you already meet the English language requirements.
Please note that while the course is currently not at capacity and we welcome further applications from strong candidates, your application may be wait-listed and re-reviewed.
How your application is considered
If you do not have a degree in Linguistics, the programme director will assess your application on a case by case basis, particularly the compulsory personal statement.
Overseas (non-UK) applicants
Re-applications
Course details
Course description
Our MA Linguistics master's course is a flexible programme that aims to explore the breadth and the depth of linguistics.
It builds on the widest range of teaching and research expertise, covering all aspects of theoretical and descriptive linguistics, including:
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phonetics
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phonology
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morphology
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syntax
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semantics
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pragmatics
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discourse and conversation analysis
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typology
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historical linguistics
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sociolinguistics
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cognitive linguistics and psycholinguistics
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computational and corpus linguistics
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field linguistics
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the documentation and description of endangered languages.
Our teaching staff work on various practical applications of linguistics (eg language codification and language policy, institutional language, language in the community, forensic linguistics).
Our internationally-recognised expertise encompasses a breadth of languages, including English and other Germanic languages, Romance languages, Polish, Amerindian languages, languages of South Asia, indigenous languages of Australia and historical languages such as Old English.
You will receive a solid foundation for linguistic study in four out of five core units:
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Grammatical Theory (compulsory);
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Phonetics and Phonology (compulsory);
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Semantics and Pragmatics;
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Sociolinguistics;
- Psycholinguistics.
The remainder of the course allows you to make the most of what our staff have to offer.
You can take a variety of course units in different areas, including Forensic Linguistics, Computational Linguistics, Language Development, Language Policy.
Aims
We aim to:
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give you a grounding in breadth and depth in Linguistics, by exploring the central features of linguistic theory: its history, objectives, principal theoretical frameworks, methodologies, contested areas and uncontested results;
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give you an excellent teaching and learning experience at an advanced level, in an environment that is also home to world-leading research in Linguistics.
Teaching and learning
You will learn through a variety of teaching methods.
Course units are typically taught as seminars combining content-delivery with discussion and application, or as a combination of separate lectures and seminars. Many units also have practical tutorials that will help you prepare for individual research projects.
The aim across all teaching forms is to create the opportunity for intensive scholarly work, with areas of focus determined by students and your individual interests, which can be investigated in considerable depth.
Linguistics staff
You can see a list of our academic staff on the Linguistics and English Language website .
Coursework and assessment
Course units are assessed at the end of the semester during which they are offered.
Most course units are assessed by examined coursework.
All course units include formative assessments to ensure interim feedback during the semester.
Course unit details
You will undertake units totalling 180 credits. Mandatory, core and optional units combine to make 120 credits, with the remaining 60 credits allocated to the dissertation.
This MA consists of the following elements:
- mandatory core course units - Research Methods (15 credits); Introduction to Grammatical Theory (15 credits), Phonetics and Phonology (15 credits),
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and at least two of the following core course units: Semantics and Pragmatics (15 credits), Psycholinguistics (15 credits) and The Sociolinguistics of English (15 credits).
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optional course units (45 credits altogether);
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dissertation (60 credits).
Subject to Programme Director approval at the beginning of the academic year, it might be possible to waive some of the mandatory course unit requirements and replace them with optional units, if you can provide evidence of relevant previous knowledge and competencies. In borderline cases, you may be asked to take a proficiency test in Welcome Week.
One or two optional course units may be taken from a list of enhanced Level 3 undergraduate course units in Linguistics and English Language, which supplement the MA-specific course units on offer or from a list of MA course units available in other related subject areas. Some optional course units may take the form of Directed Reading units, which are individual or small group seminars about set readings on a particular topic. These are available after consultation with an appropriate member of staff and the Programme Director. Please note that individual optional units that are part of our programme may not be available in any given year.
Course unit list
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
| Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research Methods I (Linguistics) | LELA60001 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Research Methods II (Linguistics) | LELA60002 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Dissertation | LELA70000 | 60 | Mandatory |
| Introduction to Grammatical Theory | LELA70041 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Phonetics and Phonology I | LELA70061 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Psycholinguistics | LELA60082 | 15 | Optional |
| Experimental Phonetics | LELA60222 | 15 | Optional |
| Topics in Child Language Development | LELA60671 | 15 | Optional |
| Language Policy and Planning | LELA60752 | 15 | Optional |
| Topics in Romance Linguistics | LELA62001 | 15 | Optional |
| Displaying 10 of 18 course units | |||
| Display all course units | |||
Facilities
You will have access to innovative resources, including our psycholinguistics and phonetics laboratories, with facilities for signal analysis, speech synthesis, laryngography and electropalatography, computing facilities for speech analysis and one of the largest collections of linguistics texts in the UK.
Find out more on the Facilities page.
Disability support
Careers
Career opportunities
Studying Linguistics will equip you with a range of sought-after transferable skills, including written and oral communication skills, computing skills, intercultural awareness and research methods.
This course will also develop skills that will be useful in undertaking postgraduate research.
Career destinations for our graduates include language teaching, language policy, speech and language therapy, publishing and communications.
The University has its own dedicated Careers Service that you would have full access to as a student and for two years after you graduate. At Manchester you will have access to a number of opportunities to help boost your employability .