Linguistics and Applied Language Studies

What is Linguistics?

Language is involved in and helps shape most of what we do as people. This means that Linguistics is a multifaceted discipline that requires language in all its forms and functions. It is interested in everything from the individual sounds of language to how language influences and reflects society.  In Rhodes University's Linguistics and Applied Language Studies courses, we provide an explicitly South African focus and use examples from local languages and texts, celebrating our rich and complex multilingual society.

Why study Linguistics?

Linguistics will give you insights into how language is structured, how people communicate and use language, how people learn languages and how language changes and develops in society. Training in Linguistics will also be very relevant to your career if you plan to specialise in Education, Journalism, Teaching, Law or Psychology. You don’t need to know many languages to study Linguistics, but you do need a fascination for language.

The programme in Linguistics and Applied Language Studies is designed to meet the needs of anyone involved in language and communication. Its brief can be broadly defined as the exploration of language in its changing contexts in the light of contemporary linguistic theory.

The Drostdy Barracks, home to the Department of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies