Linguistics
The Course
Linguistics is the study of all aspects of human language and how we communicate using language. It explores the structure of languages – their sounds, how words are formed, how words are combined to form sentences, the construction of discourses, and how meaning is conveyed at each of these levels of language structure. Linguistics investigates how language is learnt and whether certain properties of languages are universal to all languages, helping us to understand more about the nature of the human mind. Linguistics is also concerned with how language changes over time and how its usage varies among different groups in society.
The Linguistics Tripos at Cambridge is available at Part II only, taken after Part I of another degree subject such as Modern and Medieval Languages, Classics, English, Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, Philosophy, Social and Political Sciences or Archaeology and Anthropology. Part II in Linguistics is available as a one-year or a two-year course.
There is also a wide range of opportunities to study Linguistics within the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos. Students in certain other Faculties can ‘borrow’ Linguistics papers after the first year of their Tripos.
Further information:
Studying Linguistics at Clare
Formal lectures, seminars and (for phonetics) practical sessions are arranged by the Department of Linguistics in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages. Fortnightly supervisions for each paper (usually in pairs) are arranged, and in some cases given, by the Director of Studies in Linguistics at Clare.
The Linguistics Tripos offers students a range of choices in the topics and areas they can study. The College very much encourages students to develop and pursue their own academic interests within these choices. The two-year version of the Linguistics Tripos offers the opportunity to write a dissertation, enabling students to study a particular area of interest in Linguistics in greater depth and to gain research experience.
Director of Studies in Linguistics
Dr Kirsty McDougall is Director of Studies in Linguistics at Clare College and Research Associate in Phonetics in the Department of Linguistics. Her main areas of interest are speech production, forensic applications of phonetics (e.g. speaker identification and voice parades), language variation and sociolinguistics.
Other Linguists at Clare
Dr Terry Moore, Fellow in Linguistics. Dr Moore is currently working on 17th century English Philosopher John Locke, specifically his views on language, truth, and meaning, in particular how they diverge and converge with those of Noam Chomsky
|
