English Language

You will learn about the structure of modern English, the history of English, and medieval language and literature.

You will focus on phonetics and grammar of modern English and on Old English, the ancestor of our modern language. You will then study varieties of English, semantics, the language of literature, Scots, the history of English and medieval English literature.

You will study the nature and types of speech behaviour in conversational contexts, the role of persuasive language in society, Old, Middle and Early Modern English language and literature (together with Old Icelandic literature in translation), lexicology and semantics, an introduction to English historical linguistics, and the theoretical bases of linguistic study.

You will also study other subjects in years 1 and 2: see Degrees in Arts, Life Sciences, Science and Social Sciences.

If you progress to Honours (years 3 and 4) you can choose from a variety of courses to study at an advanced level, including: discourse analysis, digital humanities, English historical linguistics, grammar and linguistic theory, manuscript studies and book history, medieval literature, name studies, phonetics and phonology, semantics, sociolinguistics, and the Scots language.

We have a well-established EU exchange programme with opportunities to study for a year at universities including Alcalá, Groningen and Helsinki. Some of our students spend their third year in North America or Australasia, though special arrangements apply in these cases. Recent placements have been in Toronto, Auckland and Montreal.