Language & Linguistics and Philosophy, _MA

Compulsory Courses

Academic Writing for Language & Literature (AW1008)

This compulsory evaluation is designed to find out if your academic writing is of a sufficient standard to enable you to succeed at university and, if you need it, to provide support to improve. It is completed on-line via MyAberdeen with clear instructions to guide you through it. If you pass the evaluation at the first assessment it will not take much of your time. If you do not, you will be provided with resources to help you improve. This evaluation does not carry credits but if you do not complete it this will be recorded on your degree transcript.

Detailed course information

Getting Started at the University of Aberdeen (PD1002)

This course, which is prescribed for level 1 undergraduate students (and articulating students who are in their first year at the University), is studied entirely online, takes approximately 5-6 hours to complete and can be taken in one sitting, or spread across a number of weeks.

Topics include orientation overview, equality and diversity, health, safety and cyber security and how to make the most of your time at university in relation to careers and employability.

Successful completion of this course will be recorded on your Enhanced Transcript as ‘Achieved’.

Detailed course information

English Structure and use (LN1003)

15 Credit Points

This course opens up new ways for students to think about language by introducing them to the fundamentals of English linguistics. Students will learn how to identify and analyse the major "building blocks" of language in phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Examples for illustration and discussion will be drawn from varieties of English spoken in the British Isles and worldwide, with lectures and tutorials geared to providing students with an active vocabulary with which to discuss language, and essential tools with which to analyse its structure and function.

Detailed course information

Experience, Knowledge and Reality (PH1523)

15 Credit Points

How “real” is reality? How does the mind relate to the world? This course introduces two approaches to answering these questions: rationalism and empiricism. By reading Rene Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, we learn about Descartes’ rationalist approach to knowledge, reality, mind-body dualism, and God’s necessary existence. Through David Hume’s Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding see how Hume grounds knowledge in experience. We read Hume on impressions and ideas, induction, causality, miracles and critically compare and examine Descartes’ and Hume’s arguments by drawing on readers and critics.

Detailed course information

Living Language (LN1505)

15 Credit Points

How does the way we use language shape our lives, and how does the way we live shape the language we use? Moving beyond strict notions of structure, this course explores communication in practice, examining how language works in various contexts and cultures. It addresses contemporary social issues that are principally or partly communicative in nature, challenging common misconceptions and giving students an understanding of the contribution awareness of language can make to numerous fields.

Detailed course information

Language Myths (LN1006)

15 Credit Points

In this course, students critically examine a broad range of commonly held beliefs about language and the relation of language to the brain and cognition, learning, society, change and evolution. Students read a series of short scholarly articles in order to understand language myths, the purpose for their existence, and their validity (or not). We use science and common sense as tools in our process of “myth-busting”, both on a set range of language myths in class and on individually chosen myths in independent projects.

Detailed course information

Optional Courses

Select TWO of the following courses:

• Controversial Questions (PH1027)
• How Should One Live? (PH1522)
• Logic and Argument (PH1034)

Plus select further credit points to a total of 120 from courses of choice.

Controversial Questions (PH1027)

15 Credit Points

We examine questions such as: Is eating animals immoral? Is being a good or bad person a matter of luck? If so, are we justified in punishing bad people? Should anyone be able to set limits on what you can do with your own body, even if it's ‘for your own good’? Should everyone be allowed to state their mind, even if their views are harmful or offensive? Is censorship ever justifiable? Do you have a moral obligation to help those worse-off? Are you unknowingly biased against underprivileged groups?

Detailed course information

How Should One Live? (PH1522)

15 Credit Points

What are the key elements of a good life? Freedom, happiness, acting in our own interests, doing good for others, or following moral laws? Philosophers have asked these questions for millennia, generating a large number of answers and a larger number of further questions. In this course, we will read and discuss theories of ethics from a range of times and cultures. We will read some of the most important works in the history of philosophy from Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, Kant, and Mill, before turning to contemporary approaches including feminist ethics and virtue ethics. Throughout, we will consider and discuss our own views about the values of good and bad, right and wrong, and how to live a good life.

Detailed course information

Logic and Argument (PH1034)

15 Credit Points

What makes an argument a good argument? What are the correct rules for reasoning? How do the meanings of sentences relate to each other? How can the tools of logic be used in philosophy? This course provides an introduction to logic and tools for successfully evaluating arguments. Some of the topics covered include validity, soundness, consistency, entailment, provability, quantification, and identity. Two formal languages are introduced, the language of sentential logic and the language of quantified logic. The course develops the ability to symbolise English sentences into formal languages and to complete proofs in Natural Deduction. Logical concepts are applied to issues in philosophy of language, metaphysics, as well as philosophical puzzles and paradoxes.

Detailed course information

Compulsory Courses

Language in Society (LN2008)

30 Credit Points

Language is central to our humanity. Language and society are inextricably linked. Language unites; language divides. This course will develop your understanding of the social nature of language, providing insight into, among other things, the relationship between gender and language, language death and the issue of language policy and planning.

Detailed course information

Elements of English (LN2515)

30 Credit Points

We perceive language as an integrated whole, but in fact it exists on many levels. This course investigates these layers of structure through examination of speech sounds, word formation, and sentence construction. We will consider the theory behind these areas of phonology, morphology, and syntax, looking at how they function independently and interact. Students will gain skills to undertake analysis of language structure and think critically about structural elements fundamental to English.

Detailed course information

Optional Courses

Select further courses of choice to make up 120 credit points, of which 45 credits must be from level 2 Philosophy courses.

Optional Courses

Select 60 credit points from level 3 Language and Linguistics courses, plus 60 credit points from level 3 Philosophy courses.

Optional Courses

Select ONE of the following dissertation options:

• Dissertation in Philosophy (PH402D)
• Dissertation in Language & Linguistics (LN501)

Select further credit points from level 4 Philosophy courses and level 4 Language and Linguistics courses to gain 60 credit points in each discipline.

Dissertation in Language and Linguistics (LN4501)

30 Credit Points

Once you have successfully completed three years of university-level study of Linguistics, this course allows you to develop and carry out an independent piece of research on a topic of your choice. It might be that a particular taught course has inspired you to explore a topic in more depth; your own reading might have prompted you to wonder about a particular question. You will be supervised by a member of the department who will be happy to give advice and support as you complete your dissertation of 7000-8000 words.

Dissertations are completed in HS2 (spring), but students will be offered research training workshops in HS1 (autumn), and will be expected to submit a short research proposal for their dissertion in December.

Detailed course information

Dissertation (PH402D)

30 Credit Points

The dissertation is on a topic in philosophy. The specific topic will be chosen by the student with the approval of the supervisor. The choice of topics is restricted insofar as it must fall within the teaching competence of the supervisor.

Another dissertation or Project course must not be undertaken alongside the Philosophy Dissertation

Detailed course information