Original post by Anna.KareninaLinguistics at QM is fantastic! It, unfortunately, gets its bad reputation from the School, who are terrible at administration. The Department of Linguistics is extremely well organised, but the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film isn't so much - they take ages to issue the module directory over the summer, as well as get the timetables ready. You always have plenty of time to sort yourself out, but they are just a lot further behind in terms of other Schools.
For the first year of the course, all modules are compulsory. The Foundations of Linguistics module is really fantastic because you get taught by different specialist lecturers every week, so of which are world-renowned. You never get a phonetician coming to lecture you on semantics. In this module you get introduced to the subfields of linguistics, including language acquisition and neurolinguistics. The remaining six are: Introduction to Syntax, Introduction to Phonology, Introduction to Phonetics, Introduction to Languages in the UK, Introduction to Sociolinguistics, and Introduction to Languages of the World. All really good, well-informed and interesting modules. And as you can see, a nice theoretical-sociolinguistic split. The first year is a really fantastic opportunity to figure out what you're good at - I learnt quickly that my strength is in phonetics and phonology, and not so much in sociolinguistics. You'll also be happy to know that the first year is only worth ten percent of your final degree classification.
The second year is when you get to customise your degree. You have four compulsory modules - Aspects of Meaning, Explaining Grammatical Structure, History of English and Sociolinguistic Variation. Despite sociolinguistics being my weaker point, the lecturers really are excellent, and do research some fascinating stuff -- one of my lecturers is looking at how homosexuals subtly alter their formant values to sound more feminine, and another just returned from eight weeks in the French Alps looking at language endangerment. My personal favourite of the compulsory modules was Aspects of Meaning -- I got full marks for that module and got to look at linguistics in a whole different way. It was quite mathematical (don't fret - I only got a C at GCSE Maths!), and was really distinctive from any of the other modules. History of English you may have touched upon at A-Level, and Explaining Grammatical Structure is really just an intermediate version of Introduction to Syntax. For my optional modules, I chose Acoustic Analysis of Speech (amazingly interesting and a fantastic lecturer who knows everything there is to know), Writing Systems (which looks at Hebrew and hieroglyphics), Language and Ethnicity (great lecturer, interesting techniques, boring module!), and Computers and Language (a really dynamic module with a gorgeous lecturer) No exams in the second year too (only one in the first) - only essays, problem sheets, presentations, with the odd in class test thrown in. I was pregnant in the second year with a newborn in the second half, so the workload is more than manageable!
In the third year, you have to do an 8000 word dissertation and the accompanying Research Methods module -- you pick five more. These include Bilingualism, Philosophy of Language, Language and Health Communication, Introduction to Emojis, Structures of Spoken English, Constructing a Language, and Language, Sex and Gender (and I think two others which I can remember!)
QM Linguistics - definitely 10/10!