BSc (Hons) Language Sciences Bachelor's degree at Lancaster University

The English language is not set in stone. It has changed over time and it differs depending on who is speaking it and where it is spoken. These facts are often ignored in the many myths surrounding its ‘proper’ form and use. This module will give you the knowledge to challenge those misconceptions by examining the history and varieties of English and attitudes toward it. You will gain an insight into the way English became standardised and into the complex role that prescriptivism has played in shaping it. You will come to appreciate that English is ever-changing as its grammar and vocabulary continue to evolve in new directions. You will also explore how and why the places where English is

In order to ask questions about the way language works in society, how it connects with the mind/brain or how it is acquired by computers, you first need to know something about the foundational elements of language. This module will introduce you to the building blocks of human language. You will learn about sounds in language, how they are pronounced and how they can be combined to form words. We will teach you about the way words themselves are structured. You’ll also explore how language puts words together to build sentences of different types and how sentences express meaning, in isolation and in context. By the end of the module, you will be familiar with the essentials of phonetics,

Language is intimately connected with both mind and society. Learn about the relationship between language and the mind as you explore questions central to linguistics such as: how does a child acquire their first language? To what extent does the language we speak influence the way we think? And what effect can brain damage have on language? You will also examine the different ways in which language intersects with society, with an introduction to the foundations of sociolinguistics and discourse analysis. You’ll also explore how communication works across different cultures and how language planning and policies can shape the world. As the module progresses, you will investigate the way mi

Introducing you to the fundamentals of collecting and analysing linguistic data as well as important areas where those methods are put into practice, this module will prepare you for further, more specialised studies in linguistics. You will explore the diverse nature of linguistic data and how the different types of data we gather, e.g. from experiments or interviews, cannot be analysed the same way. You will also learn about the different places linguistic data is gathered from, including historical sources or records of language used in a legal or healthcare context, to name just a few. Throughout the module, you'll learn about both qualitative and quantitative tools used in linguistic re

Chinese, French, German, Italian, Spanish In this year-long module you will progress to B1/B2 on the CEFR scale and HSK 4/5 for Chinese. By the end of the year, you’ll be able to understand the main ideas of complex texts on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in fields of specialisation. You will be able to interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity with native speakers, including facilitating intercultural encounters. You will be exposed to a wide range of authentic materials in the target language, varying in terms of content, format and register aimed at broadening and deepening your understanding of different aspects of modern society, politics and

Beginning Chinese, French, German, Italian, Spanish Suitable for complete beginners up to GCSE. Take your chosen language from beginners' level and, over the academic year, reach a high A2 level on the CEFR scale for the European Languages, and HSK 2/3 for Chinese. By the end of the year, you’ll be able to engage with everyday life situations such as describing your environment, express preferences and discuss past events or future plans in simple terms. In seminars you will cover a range of oral, aural, written, and reading skills in an integrated way that embraces techniques of linguistic mediation and the plurilingual contexts of each language. The study of the cultural, social and histor

Explore how English is used in real-world contexts by examining how people rely on common conversational routines – such as being polite – in everyday communication. You will be introduced to the role of English in media, investigating how it shapes news, what it looks like in advertising and online, and why it looks that way. You will also study creative uses of English, such as literature, and learn how to analyse the figurative language and style of texts. English is a language that is learnt by many people around the world. This module will address this special position of English and investigate the essentials of teaching it as an additional language. By the end, you will have a deeper

Explore the dynamic field of Criminology where you will encounter a range of theoretical perspectives and debates that inform the discipline. Do you think that criminals are born bad? Or do they learn this behaviour from their families or as a product of where they grow up? We’ll debate it all! You will study both positivistic and social analyses of crime and criminalisation and learn to evaluate criminological theory in relation to a range of intellectual movements. You’ll evaluate these theories in relation to academic scholarship, empirical evidence, popularity and application in crime policy and practice, and in relation to their geographical, social, cultural and historical locations.

Explore the intersection of crime, deviance, and popular culture in this module. You will focus on how crime is represented in entertainment and can be consumed for pleasure. Through critical analysis of films, television shows, literature, podcasts, and social media, you will examine how the portrayal of criminal acts, law enforcement, and justice shape societal understandings of these issues. You will consider the role entertainment plays in reinforcing or challenging dominant narratives surrounding crime, examining how popular culture serves as both a mirror to societal anxieties and a mechanism for cultural influence. Critically engaging with the concept of deviance, you'll question how

Practical computing is all about problem solving and coding those solutions as working computer programs. Techniques exist that provide structured approaches to solving problems and you will be introduced to these core transferable skills via Computational Thinking - “the thought processes involved in formulating a problem and expressing its solution(s) in such a way that a computer (either human or machine) can effectively carry out”: algorithms, abstraction, decomposition, generalisation, handling common problems, dealing with complexity. Coding as a creative skill and technique for applied problem solving is taught in the context of two comparative languages: JavaScript and Python. You wi

How do sociologists decide what to study and how to study it? This module introduces you to key debates in sociological research, exploring how different perspectives shape the questions we ask and the methods we use. You'll examine objective vs subjective positions, as well as feminist and decolonial critiques that have challenged traditional research approaches to sociological research. Through discussions and exercises, you'll begin to develop your own research interests and approach, reflecting on what it means to conduct sociological enquiry. By the end of the module, you’ll have a solid foundation in the principles of sociological research and a clearer sense of how to turn your questi

Discover language in relation to Artificial Intelligence and other technology. In this module, you will learn about the ideas that power language-related technologies such as: Translation technologies Speech recognition systems Generative AI and much more You'll think creatively about how these technologies could be used in new ways. You’ll also tune in to important discussions around ethics and responsible tech development. Without the need for prior programming experience, this module will set you up with technical skills including coding and script writing. These skills will help you test how different language technologies work with both written and spoken language, whilst setting you up

In an era shaped by data and revolutionary technologies, understanding how language reflects and creates societal trends is extremely important. This module introduces corpus linguistics as a powerful way of analysing vast amounts of language data to uncover meaningful patterns. You will experience a hands-on introduction to language analysis using specialised computer software, suitable for students with no prior experience. You’ll learn the fundamentals of corpus linguistics, including essential tools and statistical techniques for robust social science research. You will also explore how large-scale language data can uncover insights into communication patterns and cultural trends. Applyi

As children learn language, they produce creative utterances. They say things like ‘we goed to the zoo’. They understand sentences they have never heard before, such as ‘the bunny is meeking the mouse’. Remarkably, they will eventually learn to say ‘we went to the zoo’ without any explicit language lessons. They will also acquire additional languages in their home and communities with ease. In this module, you will explore these incredible abilities from different theoretical perspectives. You’ll explore two main theories about how we learn language: the nativist theory, suggesting we’re born with a special ability just for language, and the usage-based theory, suggesting we learn it through

Understand the human ability to produce and organise the smallest building blocks of language as you study the fundamental principles of spoken communication. From the movements used to express speech and the properties of sound travelling through the air to how sounds are processed in the brain, this module investigates how language is spoken. You will learn to describe and produce sounds of speech from around the world and to use and critique models such as the International Phonetic Alphabet. You will explore the whole range of human vocal skills – such as clicks in isiXhosa – and discover how humans have adapted language to communicate across long distances – as in whistled languages. Yo

What do the world’s languages have in common and what sets them apart from each other? In this module, you’ll explore this fundamental question in linguistics and grammar and be introduced to the field of linguistic typology, which aims to describe and explain the (dis)similarities between languages around the world. Through hands-on exercises, you will develop the skills needed to analyse unknown languages and come to see familiar concepts such as 'subject’ and ‘passive’ in a new light. You will also learn about new phenomena, such as ‘antipassives’ and ‘tripartite alignment’. Focussing on much more than just grammatical analysis, this module will help you understand why languages work the

Why does English sound the way it does? How does English vary across different accents? And how do listeners perceive that variation? This module will explore these questions, applying the methods of articulatory and acoustic phonetics to the study of spoken English. The module will begin with the anatomy of the vocal tract, examining how its muscles work together to produce distinctive patterns of movement. This will provide a system for describing variation in speech. You will then focus on the acoustic characteristics of speech and on the computer-based and experimental analysis of real speech data. You will apply this knowledge to chart sound change in English, describe new varieties of

How many advertisements have you already seen today? From moving billboards to advertisements between games on your phone - advertising is everywhere. How many advertisements have you already seen today? From moving billboards to advertisements between games on your phone, advertising is everywhere. In this module, you will learn how advertisers use language, visuals, sound and music to influence behaviour. You will discover how to differentiate advertising from marketing by examining hard and soft selling, influencer advertising and the role of “prosumers” on social media. You will explore consumer research to ask what makes a good advertisement. Rich examples show how advertising has borro

Explore how language is used to interact with others, form social groups and shape society. In this module, you will examine how communication functions socially, from the persuasive language used by politicians and advertisers to the way social organisation is reflected in and reinforced through casual conversations among friends. You’ll draw on different models in linguistics to explore the way language is used and organised to achieve social goals. This includes: Using principles of systemic functional grammar to identify who is represented in texts and how, Conversation analysis to uncover the structure and management of conversation Methods of visual analysis to consider non-linguistic

Now one of the most important paradigms in contemporary linguistics, this module introduces you to principles of Cognitive Linguistics and the alternative view of language it presents compared to other approaches. You will explore the cognitive structures and processes that underpin language, including radial categories, frames, image schemas and mappings. You will learn how these things relate to aspects of language like word meaning, grammatical structure and metaphor. You will also explore the idea that much more of language than just idioms is stored in the mind in whole chunks. Cognitive Linguistics is largely theoretical. However, you will learn how it has recently integrated methods f

Explore competing approaches to phonology as you discover how the most prominent phonological theories have developed. You will explore the linguistic debates that have caused great controversy in the study of phonology over the past century, whilst also examining the important question of whether phonology is best understood as formal logic – akin to philosophy – or as a cognitive system grounded in psychological reality. Throughout the module, you will engage with essential topics in linguistics, such as sound change, phonological variation in accents, and models of bilingualism and second language acquisition. Via these topics, you will explore exciting questions such as ‘what is the conn

Can we determine whether someone is lying from their voice or words? Can we identify the sender of anonymous threatening messages? Can we tell whether a call to a bank is a real customer or an AI-generated fraud? This module offers the opportunity to answer these questions and understand how linguistic expertise is applied in intelligence, evidential and judicial contexts. You will review the fields’ history and development and have your studies brought to life through court cases and practical case studies. Through this, you will be able to see the use and status of linguistic evidence in intelligence gathering, police investigations and in the courtroom. Throughout the module, you will eng

Have you ever wondered what the world looks like in other languages? Or what connects language, cognition, culture and ecology? These are the fundamental questions addressed in this module, which explores the latest developments in language-related cognitive science. You’ll explore what all human languages have in common, as well as how they can differ, and how language, thought, culture, and the environment are linked. You’ll also look at how we communicate using sign and gesture and think about how language forms connect to meaning. As you continue through the module, you will consider how things like space, time, colour and numbers are talked and thought about in different cultures. With

Would you like to learn more about a specific topic in Linguistics or English language? Would you like to research and work independently on a study that matters to you? The final-year dissertation module provides this opportunity. With support from a supervisor, you’ll build on what you’ve learned in previous modules and carry out your own research project. You’ll gain valuable skills in designing a study, asking research questions, and collecting and analysing data. This module is especially useful if you’re thinking about postgraduate study or a career in research. It’s also a great opportunity to focus on topics relevant to future careers, such as language teaching or speech and language

On this module, you will study the psychology of language. You’ll explore how the brain helps us learn languages and how language experience can shape the brain itself. You will examine what happens when specific brain regions are damaged and how this affects things like semantic vs. syntactic knowledge, memory and inhibition. Throughout the module, you will investigate links between language processing and cognitive and social-cognitive skills while discussing specific topics such as autism, aphasia, Williams Syndrome and bilingualism. You will learn about neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic methods, including eye-tracking, EEG, and neuroimaging, and discuss appropriate measurement of cogn

How is language connected to who we are, how we see ourselves, and how others see us? This module explores the idea of identity and how it relates to language. You’ll investigate how accents and other language varieties are perceived in society and how they can reflect or reinforce social identities and inequalities. You’ll also explore areas such as language and gender and learn how identity shows up in the way we speak and write. You will also look at how people choose to use language in different contexts, in multilingual England and beyond, and the reasons behind this, as well as why people choose to learn new languages. Throughout the module, you’ll think about how these issues are shap

Our media environment is constantly changing and has never been more diverse. The way different media approach events or issues - i.e. the language they use to describe and discuss them - varies enormously. Consequently, there are important theoretical and methodological challenges involved in making sense of this environment. In this module, you’ll examine social and broadcast media in their changing forms to consider how each contributes to our current media ecology. You will apply frameworks including discursive news values, corpus linguistics, framing analysis and multimodal discourse analysis which are useful in future media careers and as a citizen. Throughout, you will explore media t