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Cambridge Linguistics Students and Applicants

So, there appears to be no thread for this subject, and seeing as I'm starting the two year part 2 come October, I thought I ought to make one. Most people barely know it exists, but it's a kind of a sub-tripos of MML where you study the science of language. I changed to it from natsci 1A, which may seem a bit crazy, but there's a crossover point in the form of the evolution of language.

Anyway, is there anyone who (will do)/(is doing)/(has done) this subject or one of the modules?


Edit: since the time that Supergrunch posted this, Cambridge has introduced an undergraduate course devoted to Linguistics, so don't be confused :wink:
(edited 13 years ago)

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Reply 1
Supergrunch
So, there appears to be no thread for this subject, and seeing as I'm starting the two year part 2 come October, I thought I ought to make one. Most people barely know it exists, but it's a kind of a sub-tripos of MML where you study the science of language. I changed to it from natsci 1A, which may seem a bit crazy, but there's a crossover point in the form of the evolution of language.

Anyway, is there anyone who (will do)/(is doing)/(has done) this subject or one of the modules?


Not sure if I count, but hoping and praying that I get my grades I'm going to cram as much Linguistics into my MML degree as possibly without actually switching tripos (I want my year abroad!!) It's a really fascinating subject :smile:
Reply 2
I don´t really count either :rolleyes: but I can do some linguistics as part of my Oriental Studies degree and probably will take the chance to do it. It´s a really interesting subject! I did some work on psycholinguistics in school (great for the interview :smile: ) and we´ve got masses of books about linguistics at home...
Reply 3
Supergrunch
So, there appears to be no thread for this subject, and seeing as I'm starting the two year part 2 come October, I thought I ought to make one. Most people barely know it exists, but it's a kind of a sub-tripos of MML where you study the science of language. I changed to it from natsci 1A, which may seem a bit crazy, but there's a crossover point in the form of the evolution of language.

Anyway, is there anyone who (will do)/(is doing)/(has done) this subject or one of the modules?


Out of curiosity, how difficult was it to switch from NatSci to Linguistics? And how much exposure can you get to Linguistics within the NatSci course?
..
Reply 5
Excalibur
Out of curiosity, how difficult was it to switch from NatSci to Linguistics? And how much exposure can you get to Linguistics within the NatSci course?

Well, it was relatively difficult, firstly because for a long time I wasn't even aware it was an option. When I noticed linguistics in an undergraduate courses list, I got more interested, but when I asked people (DoS, tutor etc.) they didn't know much about the course and thought it was only possible to change after part 1B. I ended up talking to Dr. Vaux about things, who was extremely helpful and even lent me a book on Japanese phonology. After a bit more admin and talking to people, I got assigned an external DoS who I talked to about module choices. My tutor also pointed out that my college has a rule that only people with 2:1s or better can change Tripos, so I had to make a 2:1 last year. So yeah, I needed to be fairly determined to change...

As for exposure in natsci, there's a tiny bit in the evolution and behaviour easter term lectures on human and primate evolution - one lecture about Chomsky, Pinker, the Whorfian hypothesis and teaching chimps sign language, and you may discuss a few more things in supervisions. (and, if you're like me, in essays)
Reply 6
People interested in such things might want to have a go at this. I found it great fun... answers here. (no peeking)
Reply 7
Those problems are fun and interesting, I'll have to add linguistics to the long list of lecture course I would like to attend if I ever have any spare time.
Reply 8
Hey,
I think i'm interested in the new linguistics course that begins in 2010, I just wonder if anyone else thinks it looks good, or knows much about linguistics at Cambridge (they currently only offer it to 2nd year students doing MML).
Reply 9
I hadn't heard of it before you posted, but I've just Googled it and it looks pretty good! Probably pretty complicated, though... What do you think of it?
Reply 10
I'm currently doing the first year of part II linguistics; although it's usually done by MML students, you can change to it from other subjects - I changed after part 1A of biological natural sciences.

So yes, as you say they're making it into a full tripos come 2010. I think the plan is to give you a general overview along with some English linguistics in the first year, and then to branch out for the remaining two years with modules in various sub-disciplines along with a dissertation. The course content will be mostly the same as what we're currently doing, as only a couple of modules are being changed.

Anyway, I love linguistics, and the course here is great. It's kind of on the boundary between the arts and the sciences, so appeals to people from both backgrounds, and as far as I know there won't be any formal A-level requirements for the course. In a nutshell, it's the scientific study of language, and you'll be learning:

Phonetics - classifying speech sounds and studying their production.
Phonology - the sound patterns of languages and the rules governing them.
Morphology - the different forms taken by words, and the processes underlying this.
Syntax - theories of how words combine to form sentences.
Semantics - the study of word and sentence meaning.
Pragmatics - inputs to meaning additional to the literal sense of sentences.

So it's a pretty broad course (and discipline, come to that), that gives you a chance to go into lots of different areas and bring in your specific interests. Linguistics is a newly developing field, and the course reflects this, letting you interpret things how you see fit and so on, which is fun.
Reply 11
Linguistics is brilliant and it sounds similar to some of the things I covered in my taught master's at Oxford (the first term was basically a crash course for complete beginners - in a tripos you'll obviously have three whole years to master the concepts).
Reply 12
There was an open day on the Friday just gone for Linguistics and MML. I'm really, really keen to do a linguistics degree so went along and it was really good.

I'll try and give you a bit of basic infor, if that's what you're after....

The course is being made into a three year long course. It will require a minimum of three A grade A-levels, but the faculty is currently a bit unsure of how they are going to handle the introduction of A*s. The estimate is that they will take on roughly 20 students for the three year course, but that could go way up or down since, being a new course, they don't know how many applicants to expect. It will be taught at the Sidgwick site.

There were two professors I spoke to at the Open Day. One was American, the other English. Both were really friendly. One of them - the English guy - invented Parseltongue for the Harry Potter films, and was talking about the ways he went about it (the sort of sounds and syntax formations he had to discuss). He is a specialist in phonetic forensics, so using elements of language to solve crimes and such. This can be incorporated into the course and is something you can choose to study.

The American, who pleasingly pronounced his name 'Bert' just like Ernie does in Sesame Street, was into sociolinguistics (though the title of this will be changed, I think) - so how language imapacts society. This was one of the more interesting ones, I felt.

There was also a woman who I thought was Spanish who looked at psycholinguistics (the relationship of language to the mind), and also a bit at the forensic side.

Everyone on the day was lovely, friendly and said the course was great.

The first year will be split into four papers so you will get an impression of the different aspects of linguistics (most of which were detailed by supergrunch earlier), and he following years you can either start to specialise and choose your favourite stuff or keep it fairly general, I think.

They have a full equipped phonetics lab, which is amazing - it has loads of sound equipment and there are experiments to be tried and stuff. It was really good. The library on the Sidgwick site currently has a small linguistics section which will probably be expended before the introduction of the new course.

As of yet, they have not specified A-Levels as linguisics is composed of both arts and science elements, but they are looking for people with a real interest in language and the course.

I thought it looked like such an amazing course and because it's Cambridge I think you cna pretty much gurantee it will be high standard.

I hope this was hopeful :smile:
Reply 13
I was one of the students helping on the open day, so feel free to post here and/or PM me if you have any further questions about the new course, or about linguistics at Cambridge in general.
Supergrunch
I was one of the students helping on the open day, so feel free to post here and/or PM me if you have any further questions about the new course, or about linguistics at Cambridge in general.


I think I may have met you there actually :smile:
Rosie0914
There was an open day on the Friday just gone for Linguistics and MML. I'm really, really keen to do a linguistics degree so went along and it was really good.

I'll try and give you a bit of basic infor, if that's what you're after....

The course is being made into a three year long course. It will require a minimum of three A grade A-levels, but the faculty is currently a bit unsure of how they are going to handle the introduction of A*s. The estimate is that they will take on roughly 20 students for the three year course, but that could go way up or down since, being a new course, they don't know how many applicants to expect. It will be taught at the Sidgwick site.

There were two professors I spoke to at the Open Day. One was American, the other English. Both were really friendly. One of them - the English guy - invented Parseltongue for the Harry Potter films, and was talking about the ways he went about it (the sort of sounds and syntax formations he had to discuss). He is a specialist in phonetic forensics, so using elements of language to solve crimes and such. This can be incorporated into the course and is something you can choose to study.

The American, who pleasingly pronounced his name 'Bert' just like Ernie does in Sesame Street, was into sociolinguistics (though the title of this will be changed, I think) - so how language imapacts society. This was one of the more interesting ones, I felt.

There was also a woman who I thought was Spanish who looked at psycholinguistics (the relationship of language to the mind), and also a bit at the forensic side.

Everyone on the day was lovely, friendly and said the course was great.

The first year will be split into four papers so you will get an impression of the different aspects of linguistics (most of which were detailed by supergrunch earlier), and he following years you can either start to specialise and choose your favourite stuff or keep it fairly general, I think.

They have a full equipped phonetics lab, which is amazing - it has loads of sound equipment and there are experiments to be tried and stuff. It was really good. The library on the Sidgwick site currently has a small linguistics section which will probably be expended before the introduction of the new course.

As of yet, they have not specified A-Levels as linguisics is composed of both arts and science elements, but they are looking for people with a real interest in language and the course.

I thought it looked like such an amazing course and because it's Cambridge I think you cna pretty much gurantee it will be high standard.

I hope this was hopeful :smile:


Ah i went to this too :smile:
I thought it was an amazing day too, i really fell in love with the course and place.
So where else are you going to be applying do you think?
Reply 16
SiobhanSays
Ah i went to this too :smile:
I thought it was an amazing day too, i really fell in love with the course and place.
So where else are you going to be applying do you think?



I know :yep: I thought it was so amazing. I was just walking around with my mouth open in awe for the majority of the day.
Before I went I actually just wanted to find out about Linguistics rather than Cambridge, and I came away so cheery and upbeat about the whole experience I'm now considering going for it.

I don't even know if you're question was directed at me, but if it was I am looking at York, Sheffield and Kent, with a possibility of Leeds.
Linguistics part 2 anyone? I'm starting mine in October. Moved from AMES.
Reply 19
hungryhamish
Linguistics part 2 anyone? I'm starting mine in October. Moved from AMES.

Just done the prelims (general linguistics, syntax, phonology and morphology, structure of english), and doing semantics and pragmatics and historical linguistics along with the others (and of course linguistic theory) for part 2 proper next year. Any idea which papers you'll be doing?