Linguistics
Understanding human language
At the core of what it means to be human, and central to so much of our interaction, is language. It’s what sets us apart from every other species on Earth. Linguistics at UWA aims to grow your language understanding and skills, as well as complement other areas of study where language plays a role. Gain a foundation for a career that involves language or languages, human social organisation and culture, or the human mind. Graduates could pursue a career in research, language teaching, speech therapy, journalism and broadcasting, translation and interpreting, Indigenous education and support work, or information technology.
We work closely with the Translation and Inter-cultural Research Cluster, a research entity dedicated to advancing understanding of contemporary language-related issues, including:
- translation
- multilingualism
- cross-cultural communication
UWA Linguistics is committed to sustainable academic practice. Read our working paper here. The lead for the Discipline of Linguistics is Dr Luisa Miceli.
Linguistics is the most scientific of the humanities and the most humanistic of the sciences.
Nicholas Evans
Our research expertise
Awards
Dr Celeste Rodriguez Louro awarded Vice-Chancellor's Research Award
Dr Celeste Rodriguez Louro awarded two UWA Teaching Excellence Awards
Dr Celeste Rodriguez Louro awarded Australian Research Council DECRA Award
Dr Luisa Miceli awarded two UWA Student Guild Students' Choice Awards
Dr Maia Ponsonnet awarded Australian Research Council DECRA Award
Projects
Monitoring as a Driver of Differential Language Change
When languages share speakers one observed outcome is that their vocabulary differentiates while their structure converges. A monitoring process in bilingual speakers has been proposed as the mechanism responsible for vocabularies becoming more distinct over time. Words shared across a bilingual’s languages are selected less often than language distinctive words because they are ambiguous in their language membership and may be avoided in favour of an unambiguous synonym. Could monitoring also explain convergence in structure? In this study we test the hypothesis that different change outcomes for form/structure result from differences in our ability to monitor for these two levels.
Aboriginal English in the global city: do minorities participate in surrounding language change?
This ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award project will directly inform the implementation of cross-cultural teaching programs in Australia. For more information, visit our project webpage.
Landscape, language and culture in Indigenous Australia
This project explores descriptions of space and landscape in Australian Indigenous languages, based on experimental and natural data in six endangered languages around the continent.
Australian Computational and Linguistics Olympiad
The Australian Computational and Linguistics Olympiad is a state and national linguistics competition for secondary students. This competition introduces students to language puzzles which challenge natural logic and reasoning, while helping students learn about the richness, diversity and systematic nature of language.
News
ABC Radio Mornings
Ms Glenys Collard and Dr Celeste Rodriguez Louro discuss Aboriginal English: 1:48:57
Read more10 ways Aboriginal Australians made English their own
Aboriginal English is spoken by an estimated 80% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and is the first and only language spoken by many Aboriginal children.
Read more
Contact the School of Social Sciences
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