SOAS University of London

Facts and figures

9th

rank in the UK for Linguistics in the 2020 QS World University Rankings.

Alumni and student stories

• "My main reason for coming to SOAS was that this was the only place where there was a specialist who could supervise my thesis."

  I enjoy the student atmosphere here. The Students’ Union bar and café is cozy and friendly and I’ve enjoyed getting involved in the knitting for peace club. Also I have been impressed by the array of specialists in the department of Linguistics.

• "Studying linguistics at SOAS has opened my eyes to a whole world of languages which can sometimes be overlooked in a Western education"

  I think the variety at SOAS is one of its strongest aspects – simply being a student at SOAS has taught me a lot about cultures and has given me the opportunity to meet so many great people.

• "I am extremely thankful that SOAS has given me the opportunity to learn about my heritage"

  It is a quirky university making it stand out from all the rest, being extremely culturally diverse and welcoming towards students from all backgrounds.

• "London is city that offers a thing to everyone. Luckily, most of these “things” are available for free or at a low price if booked in advance. "

  My primary destination has always been SOAS, not London. But I somehow got attached to the crowded, and yet cosy, streets of London, with its tiny cafes and shops that take you on multicultural tours around the world.

• "Being small and tight-knit, SOAS made further education seem less daunting and overwhelming."

  Not only did my professor’s passion for his subject really shine through but his class was brilliant enough for me to run between campuses so as not to miss a word.

• "The SOAS course has provided me with the practical foundation to help me excel as a translator. "

  It was while working at the law firm that I first considered pursuing a career as a translator. I was drawn to the position because it allowed me to combine my interests in law and language.

Read more alumni and student stories

Our publications

• Endangered Languages: Attitudes, Identities and Policies

  Sallabank, Julia (2013).

  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (In Press)

• Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages

  Austin, Peter K. and Sallabank, Julia, eds. (2011)

  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Cambridge Handbooks in Language and Linguistics)

• Endangered Languages: Beliefs and Ideologies in Language Documentation and Revitalization

  Austin, Peter K. and Sallabank, Julia, eds. (2014)

  London: British Academy. (Proceedings of the British Academy Vol. 199)

• The History of Negation in the Languages of Europe and the Mediterranean. Volume I: Case Studies

  David Willis, Christopher Lucas, and Anne Breitbarth, eds. (2013).

  Oxford Studies in Diachronic and Historical Linguistics. Oxford University Press. 

• Continuity and Change in Grammar

  Anne Breitbarth, Christopher Lucas, Sheila Watts and David Willis, eds. (2010).

  Ghent University / University of Cambridge. 

• Repertoires and choices in African languages

  Lüpke, Friederike and Storch, Anne (2013) 

  Boston; Berlin: de Gruyter. (Language Contact and Bilingualism)

• Multilingualism and language contact in West Africa: towards a holistic perspective

  Lüpke, Friederike and Chambers, Mary, eds. (2010) 

  Journal of Language Contact. THEMA Series, Number 3. Brill.

• A grammar of Tundra Nenets

  Nikolaeva, Irina. (2014).

  Mouton Grammar Library 65. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 

• Descriptive typology and linguistic theory: a study in the morphosyntax of relative clauses

  Ackerman, Farrell and Irina Nikolaeva. (2013).

  Stanford: CSLI and University of Chicago Press. 

• Objects and information structure

  Dalrymple, Mary and Irina Nikolaeva (2011).

  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.