Engaging the public

Linguistics is a fascinating subject: If you’ve found yourself asking ‘why?’ or ‘how?’ in relation to language, then linguistics is for you.

Linguists study the sound, form, and meaning of languages – either in their present form or historically. They are interested in description (finding out what speakers do) not prescription (they do not tell speakers what to do). Linguistics is an interdisciplinary enterprise: it borrows ideas from the humanities, formal tools from mathematics and computer science, concepts of identity and group membership from the social sciences, and models of the mind and brain from the natural sciences.

Visit the departmental website to see why you might be tempted to study linguistics in general, and in Cambridge in particular. You may also want to read the Linguistics subject page in Trinity College, where I am Director of Studies.

This short video is a good brief introduction to Linguistics at Cambridge. Don't hesitate to contact me if you'd like to discuss linguistics as a subject at University.

And if you a Year 12 student, consider taking part in the annual Trinity College Linguistics Essay Prize Competition.