General linguistics
What is linguistics?
Linguistics is the science of human languages and the human language capacity. It deals with the architectural principles of the world’s languages (e.g., which speech sounds, words and grammatical rules and regularities are found?), the functions of languages (e.g., what roles do languages play for communication and thought?), and how human beings process language in production, perception and understanding, and in language learning.
How do you study linguistics in Lund?
Linguistics at Lund university is organized into two subdisciplines: General linguistics and Phonetics. There is a close cooperation with Cognitive Semiotics, the transdisciplinary study of meaning. Have a look at the flow chart below for a more detailed description of the structure from undergraduate education via theconjoined Master’s program all the way to doctoral studies in General Linguistics and the connected subjects.
Central aspects of linguistic research
Linguistics as a subject is concerned with linguistic diversity, language use and behaviour in different modalities (speech, sign language, gesture, writing) and in real-time (known as processing of language), as well as over a longer period of time, i.e. during language development.
Some profile areas at the linguistic’s unit at Lund university are language typology, neurolinguistics, first and second language acquisition, bilingualism, multimodality, prosody and language documentation.
Linguistic methodology includes qualitative and quantitative methods, field research, experimental research, corpus methods, etc.
Affiliations and facilities
Linguistics in Lund draws on the research techniques and tools available at Lund University Humanities Lab, an interdisciplinary department for research technology and training at the Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology.
The Lab hosts technology (e.g. eye-tracking, EEG, motion capture, articulography), methodological know-how, and a language archive connected to the European consortium for language technology CLARIN, and also offers training opportunities. Lab activities are centered around issues of communication, culture, cognition and learning.
Previous evaluations
- Self-evaluation of research activities in linguistics in conjunction with RQ-08 "Research Evaluation - 2008"
- Self-evaluation of research activities in linguistics in conjunction with HTRQ14
Masterprogram i språk-språkvetenskap med inriktning mot Allmän språkvetenskap eller Fonetik - 120 p
Programmet vänder sig till studenter med intresse för lingvistik (allmän språkvetenskap och fonetik). Programmets målsättning är att stärka studenternas kunskap om språk i bred mening och teoretiska förståelse av språkvetenskapliga frågeställningar. Programmet kan tjäna som en förberedelse för vidare akademiska studier eller för en kommande yrkesverksamet med anknytning till språk. Programmet vänder sig till studenter med svenska eller utländsk grundexamen.