Linguistics and English Language
In the past Linguistics was normally studied by Combined Studies students only when their primary interest was in a foreign language or English language. While it is still very useful for a student of French, say, to have as full a knowledge of this subject as possible, the increasing recognition of the centrality of linguistics as a model for other disciplines has made it a more interesting partner for a wide variety of courses of study. As an area of study, Linguistics is unusual in being so clearly focused on one discipline, but other disciplines in the list show how generally the insights of linguistics may be applied.
Admission requirements for this area of study are as for all other groups, but Linguistics requires some indication of competence in language study. This is normally in the form of an A-level in a foreign language or in English language, but if your knowledge has been gained by residence abroad or by being bilingual is also acceptable.
Given the precise focus referred to above, the coverage of material in the Linguistics list is more limited than in most other areas of study but there are many possibilities of fruitful interaction with other subjects, especially by your third year. Combinations may be said to be of two different kinds. Linguistics proper may be accompanied either by work in another discipline that also studies language but from a different viewpoint (as in some Philosophy courses) or in a discipline that uses similar structures of thought and classification to those characteristic of the study of linguistics (as in Social Anthropology).