The Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR), the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (HU-Berlin) Institut für deutsche Sprache und Linguistik, and the Leibniz-Zentrums Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft (ZAS) are offering an in person summer school in Linguistic Diversity and Language Science from Monday, August 31^st through Friday, September 4^th, 2026. The training will take place in person in Berlin, Germany.

The courses to be offered include:

• Capturing Language Use with Mandana Seyfeddinipur (ELDP/ELAR/BBAW)
• Languages of Central America with Elisabeth Verhoeven (HU)
• Digital tools for annotation and analysis of language documentation data (ELAN, FLEx) with Kelsey Neely (ELDP/BBAW) and Christian Döhler (BBAW)
• Gender within the domain of noun classification with Tom Güldemann (HU)
• Data management and metadata creation for archiving in language documentation with Kelsey Neely (ELDP/BBAW)
• Evolutionary approaches to language diversity with Russell Gray & colleagues (MPI-EVA)
• Tenselessness: How languages without tense express temporal meanings with Ana Krajinovic (HU)
• Oral Narratives worldwide: elicitation and evaluation with Natalia Gagarina (ZAS)
• Extended/multiple exponence with Artemis Alexiadou (ZAS)
• Establishing and tracking reference: Theory and annotation with Manfred Krifka (ZAS)
• Supplementary workshop: Tools and methods for advanced data processing (Inception, Arborator, ANNIS) with Nico Lehmann (HU)

This five-day intensive training will involve hands-on practice, including homework assignments to be completed in the evenings. The language of instruction is English. Applicants should have demonstrated commitment and/or plans to carry out research on an under-resourced language.

Students may enrol in up to 3 courses. The cost for participation is 250 Euros. Participants will need to arrange their own travel and accommodations in Berlin.

Key dates:

15 January – Applications will open — check back here for more information!

1 March – Applications due

1 April – Notification of acceptance sent

1 June – Registration payment due

31 August to 4 September – Summer school week

For more information about the training, please contact us at langdocinfo@gmail.com