The Linguistics Tripos is divided into a one-year Part I and a two-year Part II, subdivided into Parts IIA and IIB. Part I, where you follow four lecture series, provides a foundation across a wide range of topics taught within the Department.  Part II allows you to specialise in the areas which particularly interest you, and in both IIA and IIB there is a wide choice of lectures taught within and beyond the Department. These include the linguistics of English and of particular classical or modern foreign languages as well as computational linguistics, psycholinguistics and other data-oriented aspects of linguistics.  Part IIB includes an element of individual research as you write a dissertation on a topic of your choice. Teaching takes place in the form of lectures and small-group supervisions, as well as practical classes, and for your research you will have access to some of the best libraries in the UK, as well as a phonetics, psycholinguistics and computational linguistics laboratory.

Linguistics graduates find employment in a wide range of professions, from business to commerce, innovation and technology industries, government, and education. The broad interdisciplinary training means that our graduates emerge with transferable skills that are greatly sought after by employers; for example, students learn to analyse quantitative data, construct abstract (grammatical) models, and test alternative hypotheses. In fact, among the Arts and Humanities graduates from Cambridge linguists are especially employable.

If you come to Trinity you will join a small but vibrant group of students whose interests span the whole range of linguistics topics. The Director of Studies is Professor Napoleon Katsos, whose interests are in language acquisition, multilingualism, neurodiversity, and language processing

If you are invited to interview by Trinity, you will have one academic interview. You will be provided with some written material, which will form the basis of the interview. Typical conditional offers for those taking A-levels vary between A*AA and A*A*A; comparable conditions are set for those taking the IB and other school-leaving examinations. Generally, we find that candidates who are taking an A-level in a foreign language (modern or classical) or English Language are especially well-prepared for the course. However, in Linguistics we consider candidates from a wide range of backgrounds and there is no prescribed combination of A-levels.

Trinity organises the annual Linguistics competition for Year 12 (Lower 6th) students. The Essay Prize aims to raise awareness of the systematic study of language as an interesting and multifaceted subject in and of itself. It is hoped that the Prize will encourage students with an interest in linguistics to explore this further and to apply for a University course in this subject. In addition, the Prize aims to recognise the achievements of high-calibre students from whatever background they may come, as well as the achievements of those who teach them.

For more information about Open Days, the Tripos, preparatory reading lists etc, please visit the departmental website or contact the Senior Secretary.

This short video is a good introduction to Linguistics at Cambridge.

For additional Linguistics-related events, please visit the relevant University pages.