English Language and Linguistics BA(Hons)

This advanced module provides those of you with university entry-level English with the opportunity to develop your ability to communicate in the language. Oral role-plays improve confidence and range of expression, whilst written activities build fluency and quality of composition. Reading and aural exercises consolidate these skills. The topic-based content of the module is contemporary and is designed to provide you with a broad understanding of key social, political and cultural phenomena. You will be assessed through reading/writing, speaking and listening activities carried out in tutorial.

This module focuses on informal conversation. Fundamental features of this variety will be explored, including the turn-taking system, turn construction units, storytelling, overlap, repair and preference. Discussion will include consideration of approaches to the study of language, and the relationship between language and society as a result of studying conversation analytic findings.

This module focuses on the linguistic analysis of style in language. It aims to improve your skills in text analysis through the introduction of a range of cutting-edge theories, frameworks and methods for literary and non-literary stylistic analysis. You'll have the opportunity to explore the relationship between form and function in language by analysing a wide range of texts and investigating such issues as text style, genre style and authorial style.

Corpus linguistics focuses on the techniques of computational corpus-based language study. The module concentrates on the analysis of electronic linguistic corpora using corpus linguistics software packages such as AntConc and WMatrix. Corpus linguistics methodologies are used to illuminate such areas of linguistics as grammar, lexicography and stylistics. Additionally, you'll have the chance to examine how to build, store and exploit your own corpora for linguistic analysis.

After considering the scope of pragmatics (language use) and its place in the study of language and communication, this module covers its major conceptual foundations (speech act theory, deixis, presupposition, implicature, relevance theory, context) and then proceeds to introduce its major developments and applications (the pragmatic perspective on conversational structure; interpersonal pragmatics, intercultural pragmatics; discursive pragmatics; metapragmatics.)

This module develops your skills in the phonetic and phonological approach to language analysis. It will build upon your knowledge from Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics, while introducing new levels of phonetic and phonological analysis. This module will cover the basics of acoustic analysis of speech, commonly used phonological notation, and the position of phonology within linguistics. You will be introduced to a new piece of software to conduct acoustic analysis of speech and also be provided the tools to analyse and describe sound alternations in different languages.

The aim of this module is to develop the tools of syntactic analysis and description that you began to acquire in the Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics module. You will be introduced to a more formal syntactic framework, specifically Minimalist Generative Syntax, which will be contrasted with other generative and non-generative approaches. You will be introduced to the theoretical motivations behind Minimalism and apply the theoretical apparatus to solve syntactic problems. This will provide a more nuanced understanding of the grammatical features of language, how languages differ and how grammatical relationships are realised.

The aim of this module is to develop the tools of syntactic analysis and description that you began to acquire in 'Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics'. You will be introduced to a more formal syntactic framework, specifically Minimalist Generative Syntax, which will be contrasted with other generative and non-generative approaches. You will be introduced to the theoretical motivations behind Minimalism and apply the theoretical apparatus to solve syntactic problems. This will provide a more nuanced understanding of the grammatical features of language, how languages differ and how grammatical relationships are realised.

This upper advanced module provides those of you who have passed Professional English as a Foreign Language: Further Studies module (or who have equivalent competence) with the opportunity to further develop your ability to communicate in the language. Oral role-plays and group discussions improve confidence and range of expression, whilst written activities build communication skills. Reading and aural exercises complement these. The topic-based content of the module is contemporary and is designed to provide you with a good understanding of key socio-cultural issues of places where the language is spoken. You will be assessed through reading/writing, speaking and listening activities carried out in tutorial.

This module introduces you to the translation theory and provides the instruction and setting for translation practice. You'll have the opportunity to explore translation history and the emergence of translation studies, the current problems and issues in the field. You'll be supported to apply these theoretical concepts to texts, evaluating the difficulties and problems faced in the translation process. You'll be encouraged to examine the tools to overcome difficulties and the vocabulary to describe and criticise translations. You'll also have the chance to explore the practicalities of the translation business, from seeking work to using technologies available.

This module allows you to explore current issues and practices in a number of aspects of audiovisual translation (AVT), including subtitling, audio description and dubbing for TV and film drama. The module aims to develop your understanding of the effects of decisions made in the process of audiovisual translation, and to use linguistic insights to improve professional practice in this area. You'll have the opportunity to explore both the theoretical and practical aspects of audiovisual translation and gain knowledge of the industry.

This module focuses on how the kind of language we use can vary according to such factors as the geographical or social background of the speaker, the formality or informality of the speech situation and the purpose of the speech event. In addition, you'll have the opportunity to consider how the identity of speakers is represented by the way in which they use language, and how speakers interact with others in order to achieve particular conversational goals.

This module explores bilingualism and multilingualism, describing the phenomena and learning how they are acquired, practised and lost in speakers. You'll have the chance to explore the social contexts surrounding multilingualism, such as education and community, as well as social attitudes towards multilingualism.

You'll have the opportunity to explore issues relating to language and power and how to apply the techniques of critical linguistics to example texts ranging from casual conversation to political speechmaking. Techniques you’ll have the chance to study include the analysis of naming, transitivity, modality, speech and thought representation, presupposition, opposition, negation and deixis. You'll also be encouraged to read and discuss extracts of the seminal work in this field.

This module provides an introduction into the way in which children acquire language. Along with overviewing some general issues such as the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar, the module explores the procedure of acquiring social skills through language learning. This ‘socialisation’ process spans expression of one’s emotions via language, through the proper use of conventional language, to distinguishing between the norm of language use in group and individual settings. The module aims to train you to collect and critically analyse language data produced by children.

This module is about how people get on – or don’t get on – with each other. It explores why people say the things they say and do the things they do, the effects of these actions on their feelings and sense of self, and how they evaluate what people say and do as polite or rude, friendly or unfriendly, acceptable or unacceptable.

This module provides an introduction to forensics as it is applied to both speech (Forensic Phonetics) and text (Forensic Linguistics). On this module you will learn about the roles speech and text play as evidence in the courtroom as well as for criminal investigations. You will be introduced to a range of topics from both forensic phonetics and forensic linguistics that will enable you to situate the use of language in the real world and to analyse speech and written language from a forensic perspective. The topics introduced through this module will be supported by lectures and hands-on lab work.

This module explores variation in culture-specific interactional norms, by comparing linguistic behaviour in a range of target cultures. It puts strong emphasis on cross-cultural rather than intercultural issues, thus giving you a wide comparative overview of interactional norms across cultures, and boosting your practical competence in interpreting cross-cultural differences in terms of language behaviour.