UWA Handbook 2025

Major Overview

Description

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It asks fascinating questions about what languages have in common and how they differ, how languages shape society, how they change through time, and how they are learned and acquired. Drawing on rich datasets, linguistics is also concerned with understanding how humans find different ways of saying the same thing, and how language can encode things that are never explicitly communicated. Linguistics is also key to understanding how Artificial Intelligence (AI) makes use of language data to uncover linguistic patterns, and how this knowledge may be applied. This major includes both engaging theoretical research and practical field-orientated projects. You will have the opportunity to work on linguistic topics including analyses of ancestral and new Aboriginal Australian languages, Australian English, the study of language change, and the relation between language and society. You will also ask questions about the ways that human language may inform the development of machine-operated systems, and on how to create socially responsible technology. You do not need to know a second language or be ‘good at languages' to excel in Linguistics. Many excellent linguists speak only one language—all you need is your curiosity to ask questions about the one main feature that distinguishes humans from every other creature in our world: language.

Outcomes

Students are able to:

1. define language, particularly in distinguishing between language and communication, and between language system and language use.
2. describe key focuses of, and key concepts in, core sub-areas of linguistics—phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, discourse analysis, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and historical linguistics
3. describe key features of currently contending significant theoretical approaches to language structure, variation and use in socio-historical context.
4. present critical evaluation of the arguments used in a linguistic analysis formulated within a theoretical model, and alternative analyses of a given language data
5. demonstrate meta-linguistic knowledge of the basic structures and patterns of use of their own language
6. propose analyses of structural patterns in language data within different theoretical models, and for different speech communities.
7. explain knowledge of the diversity of structures across languages
8. find, critically interpret and synthesise the content of scholarly publications in Linguistics relevant to a particular topic.

Broadening guidelines

All students studying towards a Bachelor's Degree at UWA are required to Broaden their studies by completing a minimum of four units (24 points) of study outside their degree specific major. Broadening is your opportunity to explore other areas of interest, investigate new disciplines and knowledge paradigms and to shape your degree to suit your own aspirations and interests. Many of you will be able to undertake more than this minimum amount of broadening study and we encourage you to do so if this suits your aspirations. Over the next few months you will find here some broadening suggestions related to your degree-specific major. While we know that many students value guidance of this sort, these are only suggestions and students should not lose sight of the opportunity to explore that is afforded by your Broadening Choices. Advice can also be sought from your Allocated Student Advising Office.

Courses

Linguistics can be taken as a degree-specific major in the following degree courses:

• BP001 Bachelor of Arts
• BH005 Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours)

Units