2024 Summer School

Academia Grammaticorum Salensis Vigesima Prima

Linguistic data from fieldwork to R

21–27 July 2024, Salos, Lithuania

Linguists from different theoretical frameworks strive to ground and test their hypotheses using empirical data from natural languages. This raises the need for sound methodological foundations underlying every step of the research process. Academia Grammaticorum Salensis Vigesima Prima adopts a practical approach and aspires to encompass the data processing pipeline from raw data collected in the fieldwork setting to quantitative results. The summer school is designed to equip participants, primarily PhD students, with the essential tools for conducting data-driven research, focusing on critical phases that are seldom integrated into a single cohesive workflow: fieldwork, data collection (various types and formats), data processing and annotation, and statistical analysis.

The curriculum of the summer school emulates the journey of linguistic data from field to R (the programming language and statistics software often used by linguists), and is structured to guide participants systematically through the initial practical stages of the research process:

1. Linguistic Fieldwork. Lecturer: dr. Maria Khachaturyan, University of Helsinki
2. Data annotation. Lecturer: dr. Alena Witzlack-Makarevich, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
3. Quantitative methods. Lecturer: dr. Steven Moran, Université de Neuchâtel

Participants of the linguistic fieldwork course will have the possibility to get some hands-on experience with data collection, which will also be made use of in the subsequent courses. The summer school places significant emphasis on the coherence between the three courses, achieved through resurfacing topics, the same exemplary case studies and data sets, facilitated by the collaborative efforts of the course lecturers.

Every day at the summer school will end with a group tutoring session. Here, participants will have a chance to raise questions and engage in discussions on the most challenging parts of the courses, guided by an experienced colleague.

For those interested there will be, every afternoon from Monday to Thursday, a parallel section “The Lithuanian Grammar Writers”, with presentations and discussion on topics of Lithuanian grammar, conducted in Lithuanian. Axel Holvoet will lead this section. We will be looking forward to receiving your ideas and proposals for presentations!

Another distinctive feature of the summer school is its integration with the Salos Linguistics Conference which will be held on the last day of the Summer School. Participants will have the opportunity to submit a poster for the dedicated poster session held within the conference. They are also welcome to submit an abstract for the Academia Grammaticorum Salensis conference and will be considered alongside other applicants for a talk, or can attend the conference as attendees without a presentation.

Click here for the preliminary schedule.

Focus

Our courses are tailored primarily to PhD students while remaining open to advanced MA and Postdocs as well as senior scholars. Lecturers will assign preparatory reading to participants.

The curriculum of Salos 2024 should be attractive to linguists interested in collecting and analysing natural language data. The courses offer fundamental tools for working with linguistic data applicable to any linguistic inquiry. Therefore, we welcome participants from all frameworks of theoretical linguistics.

Accommodation and board

Attendants of the summer school will be accommodated in the Salos manor, in the same building where the lectures are held (click here for some photos of the manor). Hosting a summer school at such a unique location imposes certain lodging conditions: the participants will remember what a summer camp and a shared room feels like. Whereas this might be a challenge for some, it also fosters a sense of community and offers opportunities for discussing linguistic topics well into the night – if everyone in the room agrees on that, of course. The rooms at the manor are plain, but clean and the number of beds per room ranges from 2 to 10. Toilets and showers are communal. If you are a fan of a healthy lifestyle, a swim in the lake instead of a shower in the morning is an option that has proved popular in the past.

There is a café in the manor, but full board (three meals daily) is provided by the organizers (the cost is included in the attendance fee). The food is simple yet tasty, rooted in the local cuisine and prepared with care and dedication by the local women of Salos, who have embraced this role as a beloved tradition. When completing the registration form please indicate whether you have any special dietary requirements and our local cooks will do their best to accommodate them. There are two shops in the village where you can buy basic food items, sweets, snacks, and drinks.

For those seeking more upscale accommodation options, there are rental cottages and rooms available within 11 kilometres of the closest proximity. Should you prefer to arrange your accommodation yourself, we can deduct the accommodation cost from your participation fee. Please note, however, that there is no public transport available in Salos, so you would then yourself be responsible for arranging your daily transportation to and from the manor. Please contact us if you would like some more information about the accommodation and transport options in Salos.

Social program

The uniqueness of the summer school is also connected to its venue. The event takes place in a historic manor in the small village of Salos in Northern Lithuania. Participants get away from all other distractions and spend a week solely in the company of nature and other linguists. They live at the manor, share meals, and spend evenings by the lakeshore, around the campfire, engaging in lively discussions and singing along in a variety of languages. The lake right beside the manor offers the possibility for a swim – even during the break between the lectures.

The summer school traditionally has been accompanied by other cultural events: concerts, theater performances, village fairs. This year is also set to include a range of activities which are usually attended not only by linguists, but also by the locals from Salos. They have had an extraordinary exposure to linguistics and every year look forward to the Salos summer school and conference, when their village is bustling with people and they get to participate in cultural events. One of the locals usually offers the possibility to have a full traditional sauna experience, which for many has also been a highlight of the Salos social program.

How to apply

The number of participants is limited, so a selection process will be in place in the event of a large number of applicants. To assist us in this process, we ask that you provide a statement of your motivation for wanting to participate in the summer school, including how its program aligns with your current research project. Apply before the 15th of April by filling out this questionnaire.

We will let you know if you have been selected on the 30th of April at the latest.

Participation fee

Participation fee amounts to 250 Euros (220 Euros for MA students & members of the “Academia Salensis” association). The fee includes: 

How to get to Salos

Salos manor is situated in Rokiškis District, about 150 km from Vilnius (find it on Google Maps).

A bus will be provided for those heading to Salos from Vilnius. It will depart from Vilnius University on Sunday, July 21, and return to Vilnius on Saturday, July 27.

Contact us

You can contact us by sending an email to info@academiasalensis.org. Follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), where we post news, photos and impressions from the summer school and conference.