English Language and Linguistics

Entry requirements

We normally expect applicants to have obtained a 2.1 Honours degree or equivalent qualification (for example, GPA 3.0 or above).

In your application, please include:

• a 200-word statement on why you wish to take the MSc in English Language & Linguistics
• a sample of your own written work (approx. 2,000 words). This can be from a previous degree you have completed. You are required to submit material that is entirely your own original work, except where clearly indicated.
• at least one academic reference.

Months of entry

September

Course content

This Masters will equip you with the key linguistic and technical research skills to explore the structure and everyday use of English, past and present, from early medieval manuscripts to Renaissance letters, from speech to semantics, from language experiments to investigating vast text corpora.

If you have little or no background in English Language and Linguistics, we have a range of introductory courses which progress to more advanced courses, allowing you to develop theoretical and methodological background for you to carry out your own research study.

If you have taken language and linguistics courses before, and want to deepen your interests, we offer advanced courses which will allow you to deepen your existing understanding and skills, to carry out your own research project.

WHY THIS PROGRAMME

You can study options from a wide range of historical and contemporary areas of English Language and Linguistics.

Its flexibility allows you to tailor the course to your own interests, so you can gain research expertise and key linguistic, technical, and study skills in the analysis of spoken and written English across all periods of English.

We cater both for students who have little or no background in linguistics and also for students with a background in language and linguistics who wish to carry out more sophisticated independent research in a particular area.

Your courses will be taught by expert academic staff who have directed and are currently directing research projects (e.g. Seeing Speech, Sounds of the City, One Speaker Two Dialects, the Scots Syntax Atlas (SCOSYA), Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech (SCOTS) among others).

We have outstanding resources in English Language and Linguistics, such as the Glasgow University Archives, Special Collections (which includes a large collection of medieval and renaissance manuscripts and early printed books) and the Glasgow University Laboratory of Phonetics (with a speech recording studio).

You can, if you wish, select one or two of your options from other available courses in the College of Arts.

We have close links with the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities and the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science, giving you access to additional training courses for graduate students.

Information for international students

International English Language Testing System (IELTS)

• overall 7.0; two subtests no less than 6.5 and two subtests no less than 7.0
• Tests must have been taken within 2 years 5 months of start date. Applicants must meet the overall and subtest requirements using a single test.