Course summary

Do you find language and communication fascinating? Do you enjoy solving puzzles? Would you like to learn about the languages of the world, and in doing so learn about how the human mind works? Do you have broad interests, from the language arts through the sciences? Students on Linguistics degrees at UCL investigate the world’s languages in order to understand the fundamental nature of human language, how the human mind gives rise to it, and how human social abilities combine with language abilities in communication. Students study the sound patterns (Phonetics and Phonology) and grammatical structures (Syntax) of the world's languages, and how meanings are expressed through words and grammar (Semantics), and through social aspects of use (Pragmatics). The flexible degree structure allows students to purse a range of option modules that relate the study of linguistics to broader questions – child language development, multilingualism, animal communication, language evolution, sociolinguistics, and neurolinguistics. This four-year programme is essentially identical to the three-year Linguistics BA, but you will have the opportunity to spend an additional year abroad at one of our partner institutions, currently in Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, the Netherlands or the USA (please note that year abroad options are subject to change).