MA English Language/History

About this course

English language and history seem like an unusual pairing at first, but they are in fact deeply related. Language is the medium through which history is both made and recorded, and historical change is one of the most powerful forces shaping how English has evolved. Studying English language and linguistics alongside history gives you two complementary modes of enquiry: the linguistic analysis of how language is structured, used, and understood, and the historical investigation of why events unfolded as they did and what they mean for the present. Together they produce a graduate who can think precisely about texts, evidence, and argument. At the University of Glasgow, this part-time degree allows you to engage seriously with both disciplines while managing other commitments. In the English language component you will study how the language works at the levels of sound, word, sentence, and discourse, how it has changed over time, and how it varies across regions, social groups, and contexts. In history you will engage with the past across different periods and approaches, developing the skills of archival reading, source criticism, and historical argument. The programme includes a year abroad, which broadens both your academic experience and your personal perspective. You will develop a capacity for close, precise reading of texts, whether those texts are historical documents, literary works, or everyday language data, and the analytical skills to interpret what you read in light of its context and purpose. These skills are highly transferable across many professional fields. Graduates from programmes combining English language and history move into careers in education and teaching, publishing, journalism, heritage and archiving, the civil service, policy, and research. The combination is also excellent preparation for postgraduate study in linguistics, history, or related fields, and many graduates go on to develop expertise in areas such as the history of the English language, sociolinguistics, or historical writing.

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