Japanese and Linguistics, MA (Hons)

Course summary

Over the past 150 years, Japan has experienced rapid change yet it retains its fascinating cultural heritage.On our programme you will develop the linguistic, intercultural and analytical skills to critically engage with this dynamic society in a truly interdisciplinary way.Japanese and Linguistics make an excellent joint honours choice by combining the study of:

• a modern language in its cultural context

• the expression and creation of meaning

You will benefit from the same Japanese language training as our MA (Hons) Japanese students but will be able to focus your studies on the social scientific understanding of language.Linguistics courses of particular relevance to language students cover:

• the speech sounds of the world's languages

• variation in the languages of the world

• the structure and history of world languages

JapaneseEdinburgh is the only university in Scotland to offer undergraduate honours degrees in Japanese. Our programme has been carefully designed around the goal of making you an expert on Japan. You will also learn about the country's place in East Asia, one of the world's most important and influential regions. Our language courses will develop your skills in speaking, listening to, reading and writing Modern Japanese. Classes are active, innovative, inclusive and always informed by the best practice in the field. You can start the language as a complete beginner. A highlight of the programme is spending Year 3 in Japan. This gives you the opportunity to study abroad and experience Japanese culture first-hand. LinguisticsLinguistics examines how language works, describing how sounds, words, sentences and conversations combine to express and create meaning. You will also study:

• the uses of language in everyday life

• the ways in which it varies across society and evolves over time

• how it is mastered by children

As you progress through the programme, you will have the opportunity to plan and test scientific hypotheses about linguistic phenomena using specialist linguistics and phonetics equipment.

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