Undergraduate degrees in languages and linguistics

Immerse yourself in the study of linguistics, modern languages or English language, or combine these with another subject.

Why study languages and linguistics at York?

If you're studying linguistics, you'll discover the hidden patterns and structures in language through dedicated and supportive teaching. If you're studying a language, we'll guide you to become a confident user with a deep understanding of the culture behind it.

Our modern language courses are primarily taught in the target language, which allows you to easily enhance your comprehension skills. We foster a supportive learning environment to equip you with the skills needed to become a proficient speaker ready for a multicultural career. You can study a new language or continue your studies in an existing one.

Our linguistics courses equip you with knowledge of the 'building blocks' of language, including grammar and sound systems. You'll learn how language is used and processed, how it varies and changes, and how we can apply our knowledge about language to other domains. You can shape your degree towards a more science-based or humanities-based approach, or integrate the two.

Our courses

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Cross-faculty courses

English literature and linguistics

English and Linguistics (BA)

English literature with a language

History and a language (with a year abroad)

History of art with a language (with a year abroad)

Liberal arts with a language (with a year abroad)

Philosophy with a language (with a year abroad)

Philosophy and linguistics

Course options

Many of our courses include a year abroad. There are also opportunities for you to spend time overseas though the University's study abroad programme. Some of our courses also offer a year in industry.

Teach English as a foreign language

Join our five-week CertTESOL course and gain a qualification to teach English to speakers of other languages. York students receive a discount on the course fee.

CertTESOL

Visiting students

If you're studying at a university outside the UK, you may be able to spend up to a year in York as a visiting student.

Language and Linguistic Science modules for visiting students

Scholarships and funding

Find out about scholarships and studentships that are available to students in the Department of Language and Linguistic Science.

Undergraduate funding

4th in the UK

for French (Complete University Guide 2026).

1st in the UK

for the quality of our linguistics research, according to the Times Higher Education's ranking of the latest REF results (2021).

6th in the UK

6th in the UK for Iberian languages (Complete University Guide 2026).

Dedicated facilities

We have specialist labs to study speech, forensics, psycholinguistics, translation and interpreting.

Extracurricular language courses

Anyone can learn a language through our Languages for All courses. We offer 8-week and 18-week courses in many different languages, from beginner to advanced.

If you're a student at York, you'll also receive a discount on the course fee.

Learn a language

A group of people attending an Arabic class.

Careers

A student and academic looking at work on a computer.

You'll have direct careers support through our dedicated careers and employability team. We host regular workshops for you to find out about careers in areas such as speech and language therapy, broadcasting and language technology.
A degree in modern languages and linguistics will equip you with a broad range of skills that can help you succeed in a variety of careers. This includes expert communication in multiple languages, research skills and specialist software knowledge.
Our graduates have gone on to succeed in careers like speech and language therapy, AI, teaching, journalism, marketing and academic research.

Discover our careers support

Student and graduate stories

Hear what our students and graduates have to say about studying with us.

Cameron, BA Linguistics with Spanish. Read Cameron's blog post.

Amy, BA French and Spanish (with a year abroad). Read Amy's blog post.

Free online course

Look into how our visions of ourselves and others interact, and engage with one of the largest centres for the study of sociolinguistics in the UK.

Accents, attitudes and identity

We make alternative offers for some of our undergraduate degrees, including the completion of a MOOC for eligible applicants. This includes this MOOC. Offer holders should check their offer letter for further details.