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Linguistics is the systematic study of human language. On the course, you will use methods and knowledge from many disciplines. These include philosophy, physics, engineering and psychology.
Your studies will be varied – one day you might be poring over a medieval text for evidence of how the grammar of a language has changed, and the next, learning about how the larynx creates sound energy for speech, or how we can record brain responses in a categorisation task.
Overview
Number 1 in the UK for Linguistics (The Complete University Guide 2026)
Linguistics at Cambridge
This course explores properties which all languages share and which offer insight into the human mind.
You will study lots of different aspects of linguistics. One day you might be poring over a medieval text for evidence of how the grammar of a language has changed. The next, you may be learning about how the larynx creates sound energy for speech, or how we can record brain responses to language.
You will also cover a wide range of disciplines. For example, the study of meaning draws on philosophy, the analysis of the speech signal uses methods from physics and engineering, and the study of language acquisition draws on psychology.
From your second year, you can choose to specialise through optional papers, if there is a particular discipline that interests you.
Teaching and facilities
Teaching
You’ll be taught by experts in their fields.
Facilities
Based in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics, you will have access to:
- a well-stocked Faculty library
- Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) facility
- Media Centre and phonetics lab
- bespoke language teaching and learning materials at the Language Centre
Along with all other students at Cambridge, you'll also have access to:
- our impressive Cambridge University Library, one of the world’s oldest university libraries
Watch the video to find out what a day in the life of a Cambridge Linguistics student is like:
Course costs
When you go to university, you’ll need to consider two main costs – your tuition fees and your living costs (sometimes referred to as maintenance costs).
Your living costs will include costs related to your studies that are not covered by your tuition fees. There are some general study costs that will apply for all students.
Find out more about general study costs.
Other additional course costs for Linguistics are detailed below. If you have any queries about these costs, please contact the Faculty.
Books and set texts
All required reading is held in University and College libraries or available online, but you may choose to buy some books. The costs for these books will vary but will typically be up to £50 per year.
Printing and photocopying
You may need to do some printing and photocopying. The use of the printers in the Faculty costs 5p per A4 sheet in black and white, and 20p per A4 sheet in colour. You may typically spend £20 per year on printing and photocopying.
Field trips and study abroad
Depending on the topic chosen, you may have some additional costs for your dissertation in Year 3, for example for research trips or payment of volunteers. Costs will vary.
Your future career
On the course you will gain transferable skills that are greatly sought after by employers.
Linguistics graduates find employment in a wide range of professions. Recent graduates have taken up roles at:
- Amazon
- the Foreign Office
Some students have also gone on to postgraduate study at top universities in the UK, Europe and North America.
The course also provides good preparation for vocational training, in fields such as:
- speech therapy
- teaching
- speech and language technology, for example, developing speech recognition and translation software
- law
- translation
- interpreting
- forensic linguistics
Being familiar with a range of languages is a huge advantage in careers where you need to learn unfamiliar languages quickly. For example, this can be very useful in the Diplomatic Service.
Course outline
Teaching
Teaching is provided through a mix of lectures, practical sessions, and small-group supervisions.
You will usually have 4 hours of lectures, 2 hours of supervisions, and one to 2 hours of practical classes each week.
Assessment
Assessment is by written examinations, practical exams in phonetics and computational linguistics, as well as a dissertation in your final year.
You won't usually be able to resit any of your exams.
Year 1 (Part I)
You will study a foundation across a wide range of linguistic subfields taught within the Faculty.
You take 4 papers:
- Sounds and Words – an introduction to phonetics, phonology and morphology
- Structures and Meanings – looking at topics including sentence construction, semantics and pragmatics
- Language, Brains and Machines – considering the relationships of language to cognitive and computational factors
- Linguistic Variation and Change – contemporary linguistic variation and historical change
Year 2 (Part IIA)
You take 4 papers from a wide range of options. This means you will be able to specialise in areas that particularly interest you.
Paper options may include:
- Phonetics
- Phonology and Morphology
- Syntax
- Semantics and Pragmatics
- Historical Linguistics
- History of Ideas on Language
- History of English
- History of French
- Language Acquisition
- Psychology of Language Processing and Learning
- Language Typology and Cognition
- Computational Linguistics
Year 3 (Part IIB)
You take 3 papers:
- Linguistic Theory – a general theory paper
- 2 further papers from the remaining options from your second year
You will also write a dissertation of 8,000 to 10,000 words on a topic of your choice. You will need to do individual research for this dissertation.
For further information about this course and the papers you can take see the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics website.
Changing course
It’s really important to think carefully about which course you want to study before you apply.
In rare cases, it may be possible to change course once you’ve joined the University. You will usually have to get agreement from your College and the relevant departments. It’s not guaranteed that your course change will be approved.
You might also have to:
- take part in an interview
- complete an admissions test
- produce some written work
- achieve a particular grade in your current studies
- do some catch-up work
- start your new course from the beginning
For more information visit the Department website.
You can also apply to change to:
You can't apply to this course until you're at Cambridge. You would usually apply when you are in your second or third year of your original Cambridge course.
You should contact your College’s Admissions Office if you’re thinking of changing your course. They will be able to give you advice and explain how changing courses works.
Entry requirements
The listed entry requirements relate to entry in 2026 or deferred entry in 2027. Entry requirements for 2027 entry or deferred entry in 2028 will be published in April 2026. Check our guidance on choosing high school subjects.
Minimum offer level
A level: A*AA
IB: 41-42 points, with 776 at Higher Level
Other qualifications: Check which other qualifications we accept.
We don't ask for any specific subjects to apply to Linguistics. We recommend these subjects for a strong application:
- an essay-based subject
College entry requirements
The following Colleges usually set offers at the minimum offer level. They may sometimes ask for higher grades or an A* in a particular subject:
- Christ’s
- Clare
- Downing
- Emmanuel
- Fitzwilliam
- Girton
- Homerton
- Hughes Hall
- Jesus
- King's
- Magdalene
- Newnham
- Pembroke
- Peterhouse
- Queens'
- Robinson
- Sidney Sussex
- St Edmund's
- St John’s
- Trinity
- Trinity Hall
- Wolfson
The following Colleges set extra conditions for most or all offers. For example, a higher offer or specify an A* in a particular subject. For more information check the College websites:
- Churchill
- Corpus Christi
- Gonville & Caius
- Lucy Cavendish
- Murray Edwards
- Selwyn
Colleges set additional offer requirements for a range of reasons. If you'd like to find out more about why we do this, check the information about offers above the minimum requirement on the entry requirements page.
IB offers
Some Colleges usually make offers above the minimum offer level. Find out more on our qualifications page.
Admission assessment
There may be an admissions assessment at some Colleges for this course. You do not need to register in advance.
Check the College admission assessments page for more information.
Submitted work
Some of our Colleges will ask you to submit written work.
The following College requires 1 piece of written work:
- St Edmund's
The following College requires 2 pieces of written work:
- Downing
What Linguistics students have studied
Most Linguistics students (who had studied A levels and started at Cambridge in 2018, 2019 and 2023) achieved at least A*A*A (76% of entrants).
All had studied at least one of the subjects recommended above.
The majority of students who studied IB achieved at least 44 points overall.
This information shows some of the common subjects our applicants have studied. Although these are common subject combinations, this doesn't mean they're favoured.
When you're choosing your post-16 subjects, it's most important to check whether any subjects are required for your course. You can also check our guidance on choosing your high school subjects for more information.
All undergraduate admissions decisions are the responsibility of the Cambridge Colleges. Please contact the relevant College admissions office if you have any queries.
Next steps
Discover your department or faculty
- - Explore Linguistics in more detail on the Faculty website.
Explore our Colleges
- - A College is where you’ll live, eat and socialise. You may also have some small group teaching there, known as supervisions.
- - If you think you know which course you’d like to study, it’s time to choose a College.
Visit us on an open day
- - Get a feel for the city and the university.
- - We offer a range of events where you can find out more about Cambridge, Colleges, and your course. Many of our events are online so you can join us virtually.
Find out how to apply
- - Our admissions process is slightly different to other universities. We’ve put together a handy guide to help you apply to Cambridge.
- - Supercurricular activities are a great way to engage with your chosen subject outside of school or college.
Discover Uni
Discover Uni data
Contextual information
Discover Uni allows you to compare information about individual courses at different higher education institutions. This can be a useful method of considering your options and what course may suit you best.
However, please note that superficially similar courses often have very different structures and objectives, and that the teaching, support and learning environment that best suits you can only be determined by identifying your own interests, needs, expectations and goals, and comparing them with detailed institution- and course-specific information.
We recommend that you look thoroughly at the course and University information contained on these webpages and consider coming to visit us on an Open Day, rather than relying solely on statistical comparison.
You may find the following notes helpful when considering information presented by Discover Uni.
- Discover Uni relies on superficially similar courses being coded in the same way. Whilst this works on one level, it may lead to some anomalies. For example, Music courses and Music Technology courses can have exactly the same code despite being very different programmes with quite distinct educational and career outcomes.
Any course which combines several disciplines (as many courses at Cambridge do) tends to be compared nationally with courses in just one of those disciplines, and in such cases the Discover Uni comparison may not be an accurate or fair reflection of the reality of either. For example, you may find that when considering a degree which embraces a range of disciplines such as biology, physics, chemistry and geology (for instance, Natural Sciences at Cambridge), the comparison provided is with courses at other institutions that primarily focus on just one (or a smaller combination) of those subjects.You may therefore find that not all elements of the Cambridge degree are represented in the Discover Uni data. - Some contextual data linked from other surveys, such as the National Student Survey (NSS) or the Destination of Leavers in Higher Education (DLHE), may not be available or may be aggregated across several courses or several years due to small sample sizes. When using the data to inform your course choice, it is important to ensure you understand how it has been processed prior to its presentation. Discover Uni offers some explanatory information about how the contextual data is collated, and how it may be used, which you can view here: https://discoveruni.gov.uk/about-our-data/.
- Discover Uni draws on national data to provide average salaries and employment/continuation data. Whilst starting salaries can be a useful measure, they do not give any sense of career trajectory or take account of the voluntary/low paid work that many graduates undertake initially in order to gain valuable experience necessary/advantageous for later career progression. Discover Uni is currently piloting use of the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data to demonstrate possible career progression; it is important to note that this is experimental and its use may be modified as it embeds.
The above list is not exhaustive and there may be other important factors that are relevant to the choices that you are making, but we hope that this will be a useful starting point to help you delve deeper than the face value of the Discover Uni data.