Linguistics (Joint Honours)

Program Overview

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Linguists investigate how language works; how patterns of sounds, words and sentences combine to convey meaning. Language is fundamental to nearly every aspect of human experience: how we communicate, our sense of identity, how we interact socially and how we think. Linguists explore all these areas and more. They study everyday language use, how it varies and changes geographically, socially and across time, and how children acquire language. Even when they investigate specific languages, linguists are often trying to shed light on language in general. Some investigate how people acquire their knowledge about language and what this tells us about how the mind works. Many linguists investigate how languages vary across speakers, social groups and geographic regions, and some are involved in the documentation and maintenance of endangered languages. Some make computational models of speech and language based on collections of spoken and written language. How competitive: applicants from the EU apply through the CAO, and each Joint Honours pair of subjects is ranked on points. In round 1 of 2026, the pairs with Linguistics took from 531 to 600 points, depending on the other subject. On Trinity's indicative scale for the IB, that is from about 39 to about 45 points, or less with Higher Level Mathematics at 4 or better, which adds 25. Applicants from outside the EU apply to Trinity directly and are assessed individually.