
- UCAS course code
- Q1Q3
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Course description
Our BA English Language course is ideal for analytical minds who want to delve into the science of language - an everyday phenomenon which impacts our lives on an individual and a global scale.
English Language covers the history of the English language and the variation between English dialects in the UK and further afield.
You will acquire the skills required for analytical language study alongside the means to apply those skills to the study of historical and present-day English. In addition, you will practise key transferable skills, such as essay writing and how to give a presentation.
English Language at The University of Manchester is unrivalled in its breadth of subject areas and theoretical approaches. Our particular strengths include phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax (lexical-functional grammar, role and reference grammar, construction grammar, and minimalism), and formal semantics and pragmatics.
You'll be encouraged to take an active role in funded teaching-enhancement projects. For example, some of our students have developed an online atlas of dialect variation in the UK.
Special features
Placement year option
Apply your subject-specific knowledge in a real-world context through a placement year in your third year of study, enabling you to enhance your employment prospects, clarify your career goals and build your external networks.
Study abroad
You may apply to spend one semester studying abroad during Year 2. Exchange partners are offered through the Erasmus Exchange scheme (in Sweden) and the Worldwide Exchange scheme (eg USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore).
Study an additional subject
Flexible Honours may allow you to study an additional arts, languages or cultures subject.
Teaching and learning
You'll be taught through a mixture of:
- formal lectures
- tutorials
- one-to-one supervision.
You'll spend approximately 12 hours each week in formal study sessions and further time in independent study.
In your independent study time, you may be reading, producing written work, revising for examinations or working as part of a team of students. You'll also have the opportunity to study a modern language.
In your final year, you'll have the option to write a 12,000-word dissertation. You'll undertake research on a topic of your own choice under the supervision of a member of staff in English Language and Linguistics.
Coursework and assessment
Our courses are assessed in various ways, for example, written examinations, oral presentations and different types of coursework.
Coursework may include library research, linguistic fieldwork and data collection, or web-based research.
Course content for year 1
You'll study the foundations of English grammar and will be introduced to the history of English and the variations of English in the UK and further afield.
Course units for year 1
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 |
---|---|---|---|
English Word and Sentence Structure | LELA10301 | 20 | Mandatory |
The Sounds of Language | LELA10322 | 20 | Mandatory |
History and Varieties of English | LELA10342 | 20 | Mandatory |
From Text to Linguistic Evidence | LELA10401 | 20 | Mandatory |
Language, Mind and Brain | LELA10201 | 20 | Optional |
Study of Meaning | LELA10332 | 20 | Optional |
Course content for year 2
Tailor your degree to suit your interests. Choose from a wide range of optional units, from the history of English to variation in contemporary English, from semantics and pragmatics (the study of meaning in and out of context) to psycholinguistics.
Course units for year 2
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 |
---|---|---|---|
Language, Mind and Brain | LELA10201 | 20 | Optional |
Study of Meaning | LELA10332 | 20 | Optional |
Phonology | LELA20012 | 20 | Optional |
Analysing Grammar | LELA20022 | 20 | Optional |
Typology | LELA20032 | 20 | Optional |
Societal Multi-lingualism | LELA20102 | 20 | Optional |
Quantitative Methods in Language Sciences | LELA20231 | 20 | Optional |
Semantics | LELA20281 | 20 | Optional |
Pragmatics: Meaning, Context, and Interaction | LELA20291 | 20 | Optional |
Variationist Sociolinguistics | LELA20501 | 20 | Optional |
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Course content for year 3
Have complete freedom of choice among a wealth of different course options spanning subjects as diverse as the history of English, sociolinguistics, and formal semantics and syntax.
Course units for year 3
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 |
---|---|---|---|
Phonology | LELA20012 | 20 | Optional |
Analysing Grammar | LELA20022 | 20 | Optional |
Typology | LELA20032 | 20 | Optional |
Societal Multi-lingualism | LELA20102 | 20 | Optional |
Quantitative Methods in Language Sciences | LELA20231 | 20 | Optional |
Semantics | LELA20281 | 20 | Optional |
Pragmatics: Meaning, Context, and Interaction | LELA20291 | 20 | Optional |
Variationist Sociolinguistics | LELA20501 | 20 | Optional |
Psycholinguistics | LELA20962 | 20 | Optional |
Stylistics of English | LELA21511 | 20 | Optional |
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Facilities

You will access resources to enhance your learning, including an extensive collection of linguistics texts and our psycholinguistics and phonetics laboratories, with facilities for:
- signal analysis
- speech synthesis
- laryngography
- electropalatography.
Find out more on the Facilities page.