MA Language and Society

Choose Kingston’s Language and Society MA

Language is shaped by the social worlds we inhabit and, at the same time, shapes society. Language also enables us to express representations of sociocultural worlds within our minds. Human beings are intelligent social actors competent in the strategic use of language for confirming or contesting aspects of the social worlds of ethnicity, age, gender, social class and many more.

The MA Language and Society provides you with an advanced understanding of language use in society. The programme explores how aspects of everyday language relate to social categorisations, such as class, age, gender and ethnicity; it accounts for the linguistic diversity we encounter at all levels and it displays a commitment to the pursuit of equality and social justice.

The MA explores key principles, methods and theories in the interdisciplinary field of sociolinguistics and their application to a range of areas, including intercultural communication, language ideology and discourse, narrative, social interaction and identity, and meaning. The MA is unique in that it allows students to undertake original research within the area of language and society from a sociolinguistic or sociocultural perspective, combining their critical understanding of current theories and debates in the field with their reflection on their own experience as language user in a superdiverse society.

The programme is designed for students who have completed a degree in English language, linguistics, sociology or a cognate subject area, as well as those who work in language-related professions (such as teachers, translators and language consultants). The MA programme provides an excellent foundation for students who wish to pursue their postgraduate studies to MPhil/PhD level.

What will you study?

You have the opportunity to explore topics relating, for instance, to the evolution and transmission of culture, intercultural communication, bi/multilingualism, attitudes to language varieties, voice, narrative and inequality in ordinary and institutional settings, media representations of social worlds, global spreads of language and cultural forms with specific reference to English and new media.