Chinese and Linguistics MA (Hons)

The University of Edinburgh

As the world's second most spoken language, Mandarin Chinese and its associated cultures have helped to shape the contemporary world in many ways.This joint honours programme gives you the opportunity to study Chinese while exploring how language works.Chinese and Linguistics make an excellent joint honours choice by combining the study of:- a language in its cultural, historical and political context- the expression and creation of meaningLinguistics 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**Chinese**Edinburgh is the only university in Scotland to offer both single and joint honours undergraduate programmes in Chinese. While we specialise in teaching students with little or no prior knowledge of the language, we can also accommodate students who already have some experience of studying Chinese. Study with us, and you will develop advanced competency in the Chinese language. You will gain reading, writing, speaking, listening and translation skills in modern standard Chinese to an advanced level. You will spend Year 3 using and honing these skills by studying in China or Taiwan.You will also gain specialist knowledge on mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and associated diasporas in pre-modern, modern and contemporary contexts. Courses explore history, literature, culture, politics and international relations. You can also opt to learn to read Classical Chinese.**Linguistics** Linguistics examines how language works, describing how sounds, words, sentences and conversations combine to express and create meaning.You will study:- the uses of language in everyday life- the ways in which language varies across society and evolves over time- how language is mastered by childrenAs you progress through the programme, you will have the opportunity to formulate and test scientific hypotheses about linguistic phenomena using specialist linguistics and phonetics equipment.