BA Linguistics and Social Anthropology / Course details

Our BA Linguistics and Social Anthropology 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'll have the chance to use ultrasound imaging, laryngography and eye tracking technology.

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

In Social Anthropology, you will study a range of topics relating to society, culture, religion, identity and diversity, and will be introduced to methods and topics in anthropological research.

Manchester anthropologists look at the social implications of reproductive and information technologies while analysing the social meanings of consumer behaviour and studying violence, poverty, and the means for resolving conflicts and alleviating human suffering.

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 conduct anthropological research around the world.

We focus on economic and political issues and have also become specialists in visual and sensory media, the impact of new reproductive and genetic technologies, AIDS, sexuality and masculinities, race, cities, migration and infrastructures, urban and border politics, and crafts, play and worship.

Our strengths in Linguistics include, among others, phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, historical linguistics, forensic 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 fieldwork.

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 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.

You will also enjoy access to the one of the largest ethnographic film libraries in Europe for your anthropological studies.

Find out more on the facilities page.