About Linguistics

Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It assesses aspects such as grammar, semantics and phonetics, alongside its cultural origins and development. It is a hotly debated subject, bringing poets, philosophers and neurologists into dispute over the way we speak.

A linguistics degree is useful if you intend to teach abroad, work in publishing or the civil service. Your skills will also be appreciated in marketing, advertising, industry and public sector organizations.

However, if your goal of learning a language encompasses more than just singing and writing songs, following are some places where you could get certified in linguistics.

As a linguist you will learn the rules of language and why these conventions are not followed, and how languages evolve, so on and so forth. Along with many sub fields of Linguistics, these are certain areas a Linguist is trained on

  • Phonetics and phonology
  • Morphology
  • Typology
  • Language contact and sociolinguistics
  • Historical linguistics

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Linguistics (English Lit. & Hons) 2554 Students Shortlisted

Top Colleges

There are many top colleges across the globe which offers this course. We have come up with a comprehensive table of the best countries and colleges along with the study duration and annual fees.

INDIA

Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, (Hyderabad) | Advanced Diploma in Applied Linguistics - University of Delhi (New Delhi) | Aligarh Muslim University (Uttar Pradesh)

UK

University of Oxford | University of Cambridge | University of Edinburgh

USA

Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Harvard University | University of California (UCLA)

Career Prospects

There are many job opportunities which open up for someone with a degree in linguistics. After completing your degree in linguistics, you can find work in BPOs as voice and accent trainers, in embassies as language trainers, or even corporate translators in multinational companies.

You can find work as any of the following:

  • Language Teacher
  • Dialect Coach
  • Neurolinguist
  • Translator
  • Anthropologist/Surveyor
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Jobs & Salary

There are many companies which hire linguist for a variety of functions. Fortune 500 organisations, government agencies like foreign ministries, and hospitals hire linguists every year in a variety of roles.

Pros & Cons

There can be a number of advantages of making a career in linguistics. Apart from the fact that you could call someone rude names and they might simply think you have lost your marbles. There are other advantages as well. Following are a few of them:

  • Teach classes for just 9 months out of a year
  • Government sponsored travel to different countries
  • Present papers at international conferences
  • Job security
  • The title of emeritus is awarded to you, once you retire

As with any other career, Linguistics has certain disadvantages as well.

  • Salary is initially low
  • Fewer opportunities to teach
  • High level of study
  • Niche career

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