Why study Linguistics?

If you are a student thinking of taking a course or module in Linguistics and want to know more about the subject or if you are a tutor looking for materials to inspire your current or prospective students then this is the page for you.

What is Linguistics?

Try some of the links below to find out:

Fields of Linguistics
http://www.lsadc.org/web2/fldfr.htm

Getting started. What is X?
http://www.speechandhearing.net/entrance/intro.html
This site is particularly relevant to those interested in speech therapy and audiology

Can I have a taste before buying?

Get to grips with grammar
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar

What might a Linguistics course look like?

Take a look at the following module description to get an idea of what you might be studying and how it may contribute to your Linguistics degree or your study of Languages and related disciplines.
Linguistics 110 Sentences and Dialects
http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/linguistics/object10.html

Where can I study Linguistics in the UK?

There is a listing of some of the institutions with departmental information that offer Linguistics degrees in the UK.

The UCAS website has a full list of all degrees involving Linguistics with links to their websites.
http://www.ucas.ac.uk

Also take a look at The Independent's A-Z of degrees guide to Linguistics
http://education.independent.co.uk/higher/az_degrees/story.jsp?story=73014

What does it all mean?

Search the Linguistics Lexicon to find about Linguistics words and their meanings taking you all the way from a-bar binding to zero morpheme!
http://tristram.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon

Will Linguistics help me to get a job?

There are some jobs very closely allied to Linguistics (apart from those in teaching and researching the subject at University). These include:

  • Software engineering
  • Translation (especially machine translation)
  • Teaching Modern Foreign Languages
  • Teaching English, e.g. the Literacy Strategy

For further information see: Careers in linguistics, University of Aberdeen
www.abdn.ac.uk/langling/resources/careers.html

I have further questions

Email your questions to Ask a Linguist
http://linguist.emich.edu/~ask-ling/

Or to find out what other people are talking about join the Linguist discussion list
http://www.linguistlist.org

Still, it all seems rather serious to me ....

Language is fun and Linguistics has a great time with it.
Here is a taste
http://www.yourdictionary.com/fun.html

Linguistics