Discover language in relation to Artificial Intelligence and technology. In this module you will learn about the ideas that power technologies. These include, translation technologies, speech recognition systems, Generative AI and more.

You'll think creatively about how these technologies could be used in new ways and discuss important topics like:

• Responsible tech development
• Ethical concerns,
• How to solve potential problems

Without the need for programming experience, this module will set you up with technical skills such ascoding and script writing. These skills will help you test how different language technologies work with both written and spoken language, whilst setting you up for career in computational linguistics.

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 methodology for analysing vast amounts of language data to uncover meaningful patterns.

You will experience a hands-on introduction to language analysis using specialised software, suitable for students with no prior experience. 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. Applying these skills to real-world challenges, you will analyse topics such as social inequality and healthcare and explore areas such as language learning and politeness strategies.

Emphasising practical learning through real-world case studies and hands-on exercises with authentic language data, this module will help you develop your analytical skills, which are highly sought after in the private and public sector.

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 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 everyday thinking and experience.

You will consider different conditions under which children learn multiple languages at home and outside it. You will discover what social and cognitive factors contribute to the development of their language skills. Throughout the module, you will also explore:

• Bilingual and deaf children’s language development
• Second language acquisition
• Children with developmental language disorders
• Interactions between a child’s linguistic and social-cognitive development

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 dives into how language is spoken.

You will learn to describe and produce sounds 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 transposed language to communicate across long distances – such as whistled languages. You will also study phonology and units of communication in sign languages, which challenge foundational principles of linguistics.

By the end of this module, you will have the knowledge and skills that are essential for work as a speech therapist, teacher or audiologist. You will also acquire transferable skills relevant for careers in speech technology and analytics.

What do the world’s languages have in common and what sets them apart from each other? Join us as we explore this fundamental question in linguistics and grammar and introduce you to linguistic typology, a field that aims to describe and explain the (dis)similarities between languages.

Through hand-on exercises, you will develop the skills 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, including ‘antipassives’ and ‘tripartite alignment’.

Focussing on more than just analysing grammar, this module will help you understand why languages work the way they do. You will find that the answers lie in the nature of communication, in the way humans think about reality and more. And by the end, even your own language(s) will no longer feel as ‘normal’ as before.

Not all professional contexts are the same – and within any organisation there are diverse people with varied backgrounds. This module focuses on enhancing your intercultural competency and cultural awareness, with a particular emphasis on ‘place-based’ learning. Considering the cultural dynamics of the North West of England and the broader UK helps us reflect upon intercultural dynamics in very different locations.

Through analysis, discussion and self-reflection you will strengthen your ability to navigate diverse workplace settings and enhance your employability in today’s interconnected world.

Hone a strong sense of purpose and gain the satisfaction of applying your skills and knowledge to a community, charity or student-led initiative.

Your challenge will be to take responsibility for arranging and completing a voluntary or fundraising activity—locally, virtually or during vacation periods at home. You will need to show that you have made a positive difference through this activity.

In class, you will be asked to reflect on this experience and explore the wider social impact of the work. In doing so you will build your confidence in your ability to contribute meaningfully to society through your future personal and professional path.

You are invited to collaborate in an interdisciplinary team with other students as you explore major global challenges such as climate change, inequality or emerging technologies.

Throughout the module you will examine how the humanities, arts and social sciences contribute to understanding and addressing complex issues. Classroom discussions and activities focus on the process of identifying problems and considering innovative, ethical responses, while helping you to consider and articulate the relevance of this work to your personal and professional development.

Explore how ideas can be developed into real-world projects with lasting value. Through hands-on collaboration and problem-solving, you will develop innovative projects, learn how to bring ideas to life and explore ways to sustain them.

Whether you are working in a team or individually, you will be encouraged to experiment with different approaches to making a difference in artistic, cultural, social and community spaces.

Take a journey through competing approaches to phonology as you discover the intriguing history of 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.

Along the way, 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 get to explore exciting questions such as ‘what is the connection between sound systems and the mind?’, ‘is language learning innate?’ and ‘what happens when we develop more than one sound system?’.

Now one of the most important models in contemporary linguistics, this module introduces you to principles of Cognitive Linguistics, whilst learning what sets it apart from other approaches such as Chomsky’s Generative Linguistics.

Exploring mental frameworks and processes that help us understand language, you will examine structures such as radial categories, frames and image schemas. You’ll also learn how these ideas help explain everyday language, from how we use prepositions to metaphors and figures of speech.

You will examine the underlying thought processes and mental representations that shape how languages structure information, such as the count/mass and perfective/imperfective systems. You’ll also explore how our minds store not just idioms, but many common phrases as complete units.

Cognitive Linguistics is theoretical, but you will explore how it has recently integrated methods from psycholinguistic and gesture studies and how it is applied to shed light on conceptions of politics, health and more.

What happens when radically different forms of art meet? How do these fused forms change our understanding of the world? We will draw on material from different periods and continents, to explore works of art where, for example, film meets history, poetry meets philosophy, fine art meets sociology, religion meets fiction, and theatre meets politics.

How might we engage with the implications of environmental transformation locally, nationally and globally? Where do we have agency and capacity to intervene?

This module brings together a range of perspectives—historical, political, philosophical and cultural—to explore the nature and severity of the effects of the climate crisis on our world.

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’ histories and development as disciplines and have your studies brought to life through court cases and practical case studies. Through this, you will be able to see linguistic evidence’s use and status in intelligence, investigations and the courtroom.

Along the way, you will engage in questions such as: Who created this linguistic sample and is it authentic? helping you develop the practical skills necessary to critically evaluate methods and approaches.

What does it mean to imagine a world without borders? Using materials typically derived from case studies, reports, archives, film, television and literature, this module foregrounds interdisciplinary approaches.

You will be encouraged to develop your understanding of migration and displacement, and to envision alternative global migration futures in ways that can impact future policy, political and societal perspectives.

Dive into Present-day English as you discover how it varies and how it has evolved, within and beyond its heartland. This module will deepen your insight into these subjects by examining the (socio)linguistic dimensions along which English varies and the (extra)linguistic processes that have changed it over time.

Join us as we journey from Old English to the present and from British dialects to emerging World Englishes. You will explore how variation in English is driven by factors such as gender and class and how language contact has shaped English. You will discover how cultural shifts have changed the way English is used and consider whether we can make predictions about its future.

You will be introduced to key research in variationist and historical linguistics. It will also encourage you to apply its insights to new data and to undertake data collection yourself.

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, exploring 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, thinking, culture, and the environment are linked. You’ll also look at how we communicate using more than just words and think about how language forms connect to meaning.

As you continue through the module, you will dive into topics such as how people understand colour, space, time, and numbers in different cultures.

With a strong focus on anthropology, you’ll also study how language works in several Indigenous communities, including those in places such as Papua New Guinea.

The module focuses on experimental methods. You will work in groups to design, implement and present the results of an experiment. Together, you will gain an enriched understanding of the linguistic and cognitive diversity of humankind.

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 therapy. You'll also develop your ability to work independently and grow as a writer and learner.

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 therapy. You'll also develop your ability to work independently and grow as a writer and learner.

What are the possibilities and pitfalls of community and citizen action, voice and agency? This module uses interdisciplinary case-studies to critically examine collaboration with communities.

You will participate in activities such as a mock citizens' assembly, visit local community groups and hear different points of view from a range of guest speakers on concepts like power, race, gender, class, affect and justice.

Language is much more than linguistic structure. Language is the means through which we pursue social goals and the primary means through which we infer the goals of others. This module will explore how our language use impacts our social and institutional identities, our interpersonal relationships and our impact on the perceptions of others.

You will examine how conventions and norms across contexts and cultures drive the way we interact with others and how deviations from expected behaviour can be perceived negatively. Pragmatics is at the core of Cognitive Science and one of the most exciting disciplines driving the technological and social cognition advances of the 21st century.

As you go through the module, you will develop the theoretical and methodological tools to analyse verbal behaviour in politics, intercultural communication, law, AI and more. You will investigate how communicative behaviour changes alongside neuro-cognitive factors; for example, in first language acquisition, across the autistic spectrum or in dementia.

You will learn how our linguistic behaviours mirror evolutionary patterns in our closest relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos. Human interaction is a fundamental tool for ‘social’ survival and how language use can improve our social gains.

Join us as we 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 aspects such as semantic vs. syntactic knowledge, memory and inhibition. Throughout, you will investigate links between language processing and cognitive and social-cognitive skills while discussing specific topics such as:

• Linguistic and social-cognitive development in autistic children
• Language development in children with Williams Syndrome
• Aphasia
• Bilingualism

You will learn about neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic methods, including eye-tracking, EEG, and neuroimaging, and discuss appropriate measurement of cognitive and linguistic skills. You will also investigate how empirical data can inform practice in speech and language therapy or diagnosing and supporting children with developmental disorders.

What do we understand by queerness? Looking back at earlier interpretations, we imagine how queerness might evolve—how it might be lived, felt and understood in the future.

You will explore queer futures from a range of perspectives and viewpoints, while examining both feminist and queer theory, as well as queer media and cultural texts and material relating to areas such as activism, politics and healthcare.

Who does technology benefit or harm, and what should its role in society be? This module examines the social and ethical issues surrounding the development of modern technologies and their use in the modern world, with a vision to shape our future relationship with technology.

How do ideas understand, transform and conserve the world? In this module we will study examples of powerful ideas such as the nation, free speech, liberation, the free market, culture and nature. We will use case studies to help us explore the relationship between analysis, imagination and practice.