BA Linguistics and Sociology

Our BA Linguistics and Sociology course will enable you to delve into the science of language - an everyday phenomenon which impacts our lives on an individual and a global scale.

Through our course, you will explore the sounds and structure of languages across the globe, studying topics such as how languages change over time; how children acquire their first language; how language varies between different groups of people and across regions; how we communicate as individuals and within groups; what languages across the world have in common and how they differ; and what happens when speakers of different languages come into contact.

With its diverse local communities, Manchester is an ideal site for carrying out research on linguistic variation and multilingualism.

We have two laboratories, where you will have the chance to use ultrasound imaging, laryngography and eye tracking technology.

You will also be able to learn quantitative methods and use large language corpora, skills which you will then be able to apply to other fields throughout your life.

In Sociology, you will develop the skills to analyse and interpret contemporary social challenges.

You will explore how claims about social life are based on types of evidence and develop the ability to critically assess them.

Sociology can cover many different topics, from reproduction of inequalities in relation to social categories (such as race, class or gender), to the shaping of intimate relationships by wider cultural contexts, or the generation of resistance and protest by economic trends and crises.

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 study abroad during Year 2.

We have partnerships with many institutions throughout Europe and across the globe.

Learn from experts

You will learn from staff who research and write on a range of sociological topics, with specialisms including social divisions and inequality, social movements, globalisation and social change, personal life, and ageing.

Our strengths include, among others, phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and child language acquisition, forensic linguistics, field linguistics, and quantitative corpus-based approaches.

Get involved with interesting projects

Our students are encouraged to take an active role in funded teaching-enhancement projects, whose outputs benefit them individually and collectively.

For example, some of our students have developed an online atlas of dialect variation in the UK and storyboards for the use in field.

Access excellent facilities

You will have access to one of the largest holdings of linguistics texts in the UK, and the opportunity to conduct research using English manuscripts held in our prestigious Special Collections.

We have two laboratories, where you will have the chance to use ultrasound imaging, laryngography and eye tracking technology.

You will be taught through a mixture of:

• formal lectures;
• tutorials;
• one-to-one supervision.

You will 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 can also study a modern language.

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.

In your final year, you can choose to write a dissertation.

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.