Introduction

Welcome to the English and Linguistics programme. We’re actually a dual programme, which has two fields in one place—English and Linguistics—and we’ll find out about both of them today. This means you can get a lot of info because it’s two programmes in three minutes!

My name is Dr Hunter Hatfield, or just Hunter, and I am the Head of Programme for English and Linguistics.

Hi, I’m Emer, and I’m a PhD student in the English programme. I started my PhD in 2017, and I’m in my last six months.

English and Linguistics

Why do English? Well, for me, English is multidisciplinary. I don’t think of it as its own distinct subject because it crosses over with so many subjects. Personally, I work within the English department, but I also work in Irish and Scottish studies, sociology, and performance studies. These fields intermingle, so there’s a place for everybody to find something in English.

It’s not just for people who are creative but also for people who are readers and just love to read. There are so many different courses at an undergraduate level. You can look at Controversial Classics and the Remix, which looks at books like Emma from a movie perspective—such as Clueless. You can do Reading  For Minds, which explores the psychology of reading. There are multiple creative writing programmes that run from first year through to third year. All of these complement multiple disciplines within the university, especially Linguistics.

Why Study Linguistics?

Hunter: So why would you do Linguistics? How do you get into English Literature and Linguistics at Otago?

There are different paths. Since we’re a combined programme, you can study both at once, or you can choose your own path.

On the Linguistics side, we’re a small group—just four or five staff. There are two papers to get you into it. One is Languages of the World, where you learn how language works. It’s the foundation for everything—whether it’s languages you already know, like English or French, or languages you’ve just heard of, like Arabic or Swahili, or even languages you’ve never encountered.

The other is Language, Brain, and Being Human, which connects Linguistics to Anthropology, Sociology, and Neuroscience.

On the English side, there are two main paths—one focusing on writing and communication (both professional and creative), and the other on literature.

First Year

What would you be doing in your first year if you chose English?

One of the papers you could take is ENGL 131: Controversial Classics, which I teach. As a lecturer in Controversial Classics, I focus on figures like Allen Ginsberg and Sylvia Plath, with two lectures on each. The aim of this paper is to think about the scholarship at the time these texts were published.

For example, with Ginsberg in the 1950s and 60s, we look at how his work moved through waves of social progress. What happened to his texts during second-wave feminism? How did queer theory engage with them? What’s happening to these texts now? Literature isn’t static—it moves and changes as we do. It becomes a social force that we can analyse through historical, sociological, and literary theory.

There are also excellent first-year creative writing papers. You can take Writing for the Professions or other communication-focused papers, depending on what kind of writing you enjoy. Some students take creative writing not because they want to become writers, but because it helps them understand reading better. I’d definitely encourage trying a creative writing paper—it’s a great way to explore how something is written.

Critical and Creative Pathways

That sounds great! We’ve talked about the two different paths—writing and literary study—but actually, you can do both. Isn’t your PhD both critical and creative?

Yes! I’m doing a creative-critical PhD, which means that half of my PhD is a poetry collection, and the other half is an analysis of lesbian poetry and manifestations of shame in New Zealand and Ireland.

As part of that process, I’ve created a one-woman show, performed at poetry readings, and published poetry online. I also publish journal articles on the critical side of my PhD. The thing about doing a creative-critical PhD is that you really need the support of a good department, or it won’t work. Some people undervalue this type of research, but it has enormous value. You’re opening yourself up to both the world of the arts and the world of academia. It’s a critical and creative enterprise that expands your career possibilities—you gain experience that is all-consuming.

What Can You Do With It?

So what can you do with an English or Linguistics degree?

With Linguistics, it’s actually very similar to literary study and writing. What you gain is a deeper understanding of the world. Language is foundational to life, so it’s useful to understand it better.

Beyond that, Linguistics gives you skills in scholarship, research, analysis, and communication. The most common path? Many students take our TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) minor and go off to teach English abroad, getting paid to travel rather than paying for it!

Other career paths include governmental work, policy analysis, and research in areas like Māori language revitalisation. There’s also a strong connection to health sciences—when language goes wrong, such as in stroke victims or children with communication disorders, there’s an entire field of speech pathology and communicative disorders.