Linguistics
Dates of course
Sunday 29th June - Wednesday 2nd July 2025
Course description
Have you ever wondered why strawberries don't have anything to do with straw? Or how a sentence can have more than one meaning? Or why speakers of the same language can sound so different from one another? These are exactly the kind of questions that linguists seek to answer.
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Linguists aim to describe and understand the structure of language, how it changes over time, and how it is used; they are not concerned with enforcing ‘rules’ of grammar that say how language should be, nor do they necessarily speak a lot of different languages. If you’re interested in studying language in all its aspects, then Linguistics is the subject you’re looking for!
This UNIQ course will introduce you to Linguistics and in particular how it is taught at Oxford. There will be introductory sessions to introduce you to the core areas of phonetics/phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics, as well as specialist sessions focussing on topics such as Ancient languages and tours of the phonetics and psycholinguistics labs. Together, these will prepare you to complete a problem sheet of the kind an undergraduate might work on for a tutorial or class, which you will discuss in a seminar at the end of the course.
You’ll also get valuable insights into the admissions process for Linguistics at Oxford.
Additional requirements for this UNIQ course
There are no specific subject requirements, but certain subjects are considered 'helpful' for Linguistics: English Language, Maths, a science or language
