About the conference / summer school

The first Salos summer school in linguistics was held in the first week of August 2004 at the Salos Manor (hence the name of the school). For eighteen consecutive years, the school has been bringing together linguists not only from Lithuania, but also from neighbouring and even more distant countries every summer. The initiators of the school are Prof. Axel Holvoet, PhD and Gina Kalvaliūnaitė-Holvoet, PhD. The main objectives of the summer school are to introduce the academic community of Lithuania and neighbouring regions to the latest trends and achievements in linguistics worldwide, as well as to foster communication and cooperation between Lithuanian and overseas linguists.

In addition to the most prominent trends in linguistics (Construction Grammar, Cognitive Grammar, generative approaches, etc.), the programme of the summer school also focuses on language typology. The Academiae Grammaticorum Salenses are thus a significant linguistic event not only in Lithuania, but also in the whole region, as evidenced by the large (and also growing both in number and geographic diversity) number of participants from Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Belarus, Czechia, Finland, Germany and Israel.

Many renowned linguists have lectured at the summer schools, including the world-renowned typologists Vladimir Plungian, Ekaterina Rakhilina, Anton Zimmerling, Bernhard Wälchli, Nicole Nau, Irena Sawicka, Peter Arkadiev, Östen Dahl, Johan van der Auwera, Volker Gast, Eitan Grossman, Matti Miestamo, and others. The school’s scientific director Axel Holvoet has given lectures on grammatical functions and other topical issues in syntax, Paweł Rutkowski has taught a course on generative grammar for several years in a row, Mirjam Fried has introduced the participants to Construction Grammar, Agata Kochańska has given an introduction to Cognitive Grammar and blending theory, Jadwiga Linde-Usiekniewicz participated in several schools and dealt with the current issues of interpretive frame semantics and the interaction between syntax, semantics and information structure, Wojciech Smoczyński has been chairing the section of historical linguistics and etymology every year, and Kasper Boye has analysed the current problems of the grammaticalisation process.

In addition to lectures, the summer schools also feature a linguistics conference. This provides a much-needed medium for scientific discussion, encourages researchers to choose to explore current issues in linguistics and gives them the opportunity to receive feedback from world-class linguists.

Every year, concerts and puppet shows are organised during the linguistics summer schools for the inhabitants of the town of Salos and its surroundings. Since 2009, the above-mentioned entertainment events have become the annual Music Festival, which is welcomed and well attended by all. Concerts by artists of high artistic quality are a great gift and a rare treat for the local population, as famous artists rarely visit this region, which is distant from the capital.

The Academia Grammaticorum Salensis summer school of linguistics offers the opportunity not only to deepen one’s linguistic competences, to communicate with colleagues and to network, but also to enjoy a pleasant stay in the beautiful nature and ancient manor of Salos.