University of Helsinki
General Linguistics is a discipline that studies language and languages from a general point of view, not restricting its attention to any particular languages or language groups. We study, among other things, the boundaries of variation between languages, linguistic universals, language acquisition, language change and the relationship of language to the speech community and society. General Linguistics also encompasses the documentation of individual, and in particular, smaller and less known or undocumented languages. The discipline can be considered a sort of umbrella discipline for all research conducted on languages. The main research focus of the General Linguistics unit in Helsinki is in linguistic diversity in a global and local scale, especially language typology approaching language in a word-wide comparative perspective as well as the documentation and description of previously underdocumented languages. See our research pages for more information.
At the University of Helsinki, General Linguistics can be studied at the BA, MA and doctoral levels, see our studies pages for more information.