Postgraduate

In Southern Africa, communication regularly takes place across the boundaries drawn by the region’s rich cultural and linguistic diversity.

Such communication is found, for instance, where people with different languages communicate using another, shared language; or where people with the same first language, but different cultures, communicate with one another. These and other forms of intercultural communication – which are not limited to Southern Africa, but are increasingly found on a global level – occur in a wide range of domains (e.g. health, education, business, public affairs, law, religion and private life) and often result in misunderstandings across cultures caused by different conceptions of politeness, conversational interaction, etc. It stands to reason that success in the various domains presupposes an understanding of the central features of intercultural communication. Clearly, then, there is a great need for postgraduate linguistics programmes in which the phenomenon of intercultural communication is studied from a range of disciplinary perspectives.

Honours in
general linguistics

This programme focuses on the central assumptions and concepts in modern linguistic research. Students can specialise in various domains, including, language structure, language use, second-language acquisition, language variety, language disorder …

PGDip in
second language studies

This programme focuses on aspects of the phenomenon of second languages, and investigates the nature, properties and acquisition of second languages from a general linguistic and a psycholinguistic perspective.

PGDip in
intercultural communication

This programme is designed for professionals who routinely communicate, or who educate or manage others who communicate across cultural and linguistic boundaries, and those with an academic interest in the phenomenon of intercultural communication.

MA in
general linguistics

This programme provides students with the high-level skills needed to understand and do research on issues relating to language structure and use, language acquisition, language variation, multilingualism, language disorders…

MA in
second language studies

This programme aims to equip language teachers, translators, interpreters, etc. with knowledge of current linguistic insights into the central aspects of second languages, and an understanding of the research methodology used to examine them.

MA in
intercultural communication

The aim of this programme is to equip students with knowledge of current insights into language-related aspects of intercultural communication, and an understanding of the theoretical approaches and research methods used to examine this phenomenon.