Department of Linguistics

The Department of Linguistics at SOAS University of London offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in linguistics, with a focus unique in the UK: the languages of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. 

Founded in 1932 as the first linguistics department in the UK, we bring nearly a century of expertise to the world's most spoken and most endangered languages.

What is Linguistics at SOAS?

Linguistics is the scientific study of language – its structures, variation, change, and social life – examining how languages work, how they differ, and what they reveal about human cognition and culture.

At SOAS, we pursue this with a sustained focus on the languages of the global majority, setting us apart from departments whose curriculum centres primarily on European languages. Our expertise spans language documentation, multilingualism, endangerment and revitalisation, sociolinguistics, translation studies, and theoretical linguistics – with particular strengths in language variation and comparative linguistics. 

Students gain rigorous grounding in linguistic research methods alongside specialised study of languages that are underrepresented in the discipline and vital to understanding the contemporary world.

Our research strengths include:

• The variety of studied languages and regional expertise
• Wide-spread of complementary thematic expertise among staff, leading to the potential if original research synergies
• Expertise in endangered languages and language documentation and description
• In-depth study of the structure of African, Asian and Middle Eastern languages and the contexts in which they are used
• Long and distinguished tradition in leading linguistic research
• Easy access to excellent specialist library holdings.