English Literature and Linguistics (3 Years) [BA]

 

• BA (Hons) English & Linguistics students enjoy the superb research and study facilities offered by the John Rylands University Library, the third largest academic library in Britain. Its archives, manuscripts and rare book collections have been described as 'a bibliographical microcosm of all liberal arts' and they are notably pre-eminent in the field of English literature. 
• The Department of English & American Studies has research strengths in many areas. The Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies is a major research centre and undergraduates are welcome at its meetings and at those of the lively and informal Middle English Seminar. In addition to research strengths there are creative writing options in second and third year. 
• The Department of Linguistics has expertise in, as well as course units devoted to, a wide range of languages and language families including the Romance languages, the Germanic languages, the Finno-Ugric languages, languages of the near east (eg Arabic and Hebrew), Iranian languages, the indigenous languages of South America, inlcuding in particular Amazonian and Bolivian languages and Quechua, Siberian languages and Romani. In addition we have a number of courses covering the history and present-day state of the English language
• The Department of Linguistics participates in the Socrates/Erasmus student exchange scheme and has links with leading linguistics departments in Lund (Sweden), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Berlin (Germany), Odense (Denmark), Naples (Italy) and Paris (France). You may be able to spend one or two semesters at one of these partner universities as part of your degree course

• In the first year you spend half your time studying English and half on Linguistics.
• In English you are introduced to the full range of disciplines as the basis for further and more specialised study. The diverse topics available include English Literature 1580-1700, contemporary cultural theory (including work by T.S.Eliot, Virginia Woolf and Jeanette Winterson), Anglo-Saxon topics and Middle English studies. On the Linguistics side you will learn to look at language in a new way.
• Linguistics course-units are designed to equip you with the skills necessary for describing and analysing the sounds, meanings and structures of language - you will study topics ranging from grammar to semantics, from phonetics to discourse analysis.

• In the second year you can choose to weight your studies so that you spend up to two-thirds of your time on English or Linguistics, or you can continue to study each area equally.
• Second year English course units build on first year work by adding breadth and depth to the subjects covered and giving you a more flexible choice of topics. Subjects available range from medieval literature to modern literary and cultural theory.
• In Linguistics the emphasis switches to linguistic theories. You will build on your new analytical skills by considering ideas about the nature of language and models of its structure. You will study units in Syntactic Theory, Phonology, Typology and Grammatical Semantics as well as a number of specialised course-units of your choice.
• Again, you can opt to study a modern language course unit. 

• In the final year you can again choose to weight your studies so that you spend two-thirds of your time on either English or Linguistics or once again you can choose to study the areas with equal weighting.
• In English your study can be tailored to suit your own interests as there are nearly 40 course units available covering twentieth-century literature, literature from the Renaissance to 1900, aspects of culture (language, modernity, postmodernity), medieval language and literature, language studies and creative writing.
• In Linguistics you can develop interests in particular areas of the subject as we offer a very wide range of specialist options including sociolinguistics, linguistic typology, language contact, language change, creole linguistics, experimental phonetics, grammatical theory, phonology, semantics and pragmatics.
• In addition we offer courses in the structure and description of a wide range of the world's languages and language families as well as course units devoted to general learning skills, research skills and empirical fieldwork methodology. 
• Finally, as part of your last year of study you can opt to write a dissertation. The dissertation is an original piece of extended research supervised by a member of staff with research interests in a related field. You can choose to write the dissertation in either department (although in exceptional cases joint supervision by both departments is possible). 

 

Your high-level linguistic skills will open up numerous paths (e.g. business, industry and finance).  You will also have excellent all-round communication skills making you a strong contender for openings in the media, PR and similar areas.

In our experience, many graduates go straight into business services, marketing, advertising, management, banking or communications.  Others opt for postgraduate study or further vocational training to become accountants, lawyers, teachers (in England or abroad) or enter the Civil Service. 

Did you know?

• MI5 actively recruit graduates with language skills
• Past students have gone into areas as diverse as Radio Reporting, Advertising, Accountancy, Events Management, Commercial Management and International Sales.
• Graduates from The University of Manchester are amongst the highest paid in the country
• More employers recruit at The University of Manchester than at any other UK university
• The University of Manchester's Careers Service is consistently voted the best in the country by both students and employers
• The School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures is one of the largest and most diverse in the UK and has received the prestigious European Award for Languages from CiLT, the National Centre for Languages.

• The University hold open days twice a year (usually June and October) where you have the opportunity to tour the campus and find out more about the facilities and courses we offer.

• If your application is successful you will be invited to a visit day specifically for your area of study.  On this day you will find out more about the School and its resources, meet members of staff and current students and discuss study aims and qualifications with admissions staff.

• We do not normally interview applicants.  We make offers after carefully considering your UCAS application.