Linguistics (Placement Year)

BA Hons

  • UCAS code Q101
  • Entry year 2026 or 2025
  • A level requirements AAB
  • Duration Full time 4 years

We welcome applications from the United States of America

We've put together information and resources to guide your application journey as a student from the United States of America.

Overview

Top reasons to study with us

  • 2

    2nd for Linguistics

    The Complete University Guide (2026)

  • World top three for Linguistics QS World University Subject Rankings 2025

  • Joint 1st for graduate prospects (Linguistics) Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026

Language is central to human behavior, human societies and human creativity. Discover how language works and how it shapes the world around us in this fascinating subject that crosses science and humanities.

Whether investigating the link between language and thought, the way language is learned by children, how language is used to spread disinformation online, or language as evidence in criminal investigations, you’ll address the most important topics in linguistic research using the very latest tools and techniques.

Why Lancaster?

  • Study with the best. Linguistics at Lancaster is ranked 3rd in the world by QS 2025.
  • Learn from experts. Our lecturers are world-leaders in fields like corpus linguistics, cognitive linguistics, discourse analysis and (forensic) speech science.
  • Benefit from state-of-the-art facilities. Make use of our high-tech labs, including our phonetics lab, eye-tracking lab, EEG lab, perception and learning lab, and our child language lab.
  • Explore language use across a broad range of contexts. Focus on core areas of linguistic theory like phonetics, phonology, grammar and pragmatics and study language in connection with politics, health, business and law.
  • Gain valuable work experience. Make the most of volunteering opportunities or work on a live research project through our paid internships.
  • Experience a supportive environment. Our friendly staff are here to support you throughout your studies. All students are assigned an academic adviser who is there to get to know you personally and provide guidance on a range of issues.

Answering fundamental questions

You’ll address fundamental questions concerning the nature of language and ways of studying it before applying this knowledge to understand language use across a range of real-world contexts.

  • Where does language come from and what is it made of?
  • How is language represented in the mind/brain and how is it related to culture and society?
  • How do the world’s languages vary and how does the language you speak shape your experiences?
  • How is language learned and how can it be impaired?
  • How can technology be harnessed to study patterns in the way language is used and changes?

Real-world applications

Linguists at Lancaster pride themselves on the practical applications of their research as well as its academic significance. Research in phonetics, grammar, semantics and pragmatics informs work in politics, law, media, medicine and technology.

You might explore the role of language in creating social identities and inequalities, authorship analysis and speaker identification in forensic casework, the language of advertising and digital social media, the way we talk about illness or the development of synthesized speech systems and AI.

Through such explorations, you’ll learn to ask critical questions about the language around you and gain skills required by a range of employers.

Develop a Specialist Skillset

This course will provide you with a skill set that opens doors to a range of exciting and rewarding careers. You will develop transferable skills that include a capacity for critical thinking, an ability to gather, organise and analyse large quantities of data, and an aptitude for generating new and innovative ideas - skills valued by current and emerging industries.

You’ll have the chance to develop specialist skills in the lexical and grammatical analysis of real and constructed languages, the acoustic analysis of speech, and computer programming for language technologies.

There are opportunities to further enhance your skills through our research internships. Each year, our students are invited to apply for an internship. These are paid roles where you work alongside an academic member of staff on an active research project to gain advanced research skills that are valuable across a range of employment settings. Recent projects that interns have worked on include:

  • What makes language(s) easier or harder to learn?
  • Analysing AI-Generated Speech
  • The role of creativity and working memory in second language writing performance

Careers

A degree in Linguistics gives you access to exciting and rewarding career paths across a range of industries. Some of our recent graduates have gone on to become:

  • speech and language therapists for the NHS as well as private organisations
  • marketing professionals in large corporations and small businesses
  • software engineers in the technology industry
  • researchers in primatology and neuroscience labs

This course also provides the foundation for further study, with many graduates continuing to Master’s and PhD study.

Linguistics graduates in the future workforce

Our increasingly digital world means that there are work opportunities in developing chatbots, improving the quality of AI-generated voices and understanding how humans interact with technology. With a grounding in the fundamentals of language, you could be a part of these exciting innovations.

Careers and employability support

Our degrees open up an extremely wide array of career pathways in businesses and organisations, large and small, in the UK and overseas.

We run a paid internship scheme specifically for our arts, humanities and social sciences students, supported by a specialist Employability Team. The team offer individual consultations and tailored application guidance, as well as careers events, development opportunities, and resources.

Whether you have a clear idea of your potential career path or need some help considering the options, our friendly team is on hand.

Lancaster is unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster Award which recognises activities such as work experience, community engagement or volunteering and social development. A valuable addition to your CV!

Find out more about Lancaster’s careers events, extensive resources and personal support for Careers and Employability.

Entry requirements

These are the typical grades that you will need to study this course. This section will tell you whether you need qualifications in specific subjects, what our English language requirements are, and if there are any extra requirements such as attending an interview or submitting a portfolio.

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Help from our Admissions team

If you are thinking of applying to Lancaster and you would like to ask us a question, complete our enquiry form and one of the team will get back to you.

We also have more details on our website about:

International foundation programmes

Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored foundation pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University degrees. Visit the INTO Lancaster University website for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.

Contextual admissions

Contextual admissions could help you gain a place at university if you have faced additional challenges during your education which might have impacted your results. Visit our contextual admissions page to find out about how this works and whether you could be eligible.

Course structure

We continually review and enhance our curriculum to ensure we are delivering the best possible learning experience, and to make sure that the subject knowledge and transferable skills you develop will prepare you for your future. The University will make every reasonable effort to offer programmes and modules as advertised. In some cases, changes may be necessary and may result in new modules or some modules and combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.

Discovery modules

Humanities, arts and social sciences offer important and innovative perspectives on the topics and debates that are shaping our futures. Each year you will take a Discovery module alongside your core subject modules. Discovery modules are designed to empower you to develop your individual voice and skills.

Core

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Optional

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With a focus on your professional development, choose one from four Discovery modules in year 2.

Core

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Optional

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Core

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Choose one from seven Discovery modules offered in your final year and develop the crucial ability to apply your knowledge and skills to diverse contexts.

Core

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Optional

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Fees and funding

Home undergraduate fees for 2026/27 are subject to UK Government approval. They will be confirmed later in the year.

Our annual tuition fee is set for a 12-month session, starting at the beginning of each academic year.

Our Undergraduate Tuition Fees for 2026/27 are:

Home International
TBC £25,490

Fees and funding information

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Scholarships and bursaries

Details of our scholarships and bursaries for students starting in 2026 are not yet available.

You can use our scholarships for 2025-entry applicants as guidance.

Important information

The information on this site relates primarily to the stated entry year and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.

The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.

More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.

Our Students’ Charter

We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. Find out more about our  Charter and student policies.

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