The third edition of the summer school Experimental Grammar (ExpGram2024) continues the tradition of the other two editions (2013, Berder, Brittany) and (2017, Cargèse, Corsica) by proposing a stimulating set of courses on a French island, in an exceptional natural setting.

ExpGram2024, organized by the Laboratoire d’Excellence Empirical Foundations of Linguistics (LabEx EFL) and Paris Graduate School of Linguistics, will take place on the island of Porquerolles in the Mediterranean Sea, at the Igesa village club . Standing out because of its unique and amazing landscape, the human-sized island of Porquerolles will be the perfect setting for those who want to gain deeper knowledge and better understanding of experimental linguistics in a friendly, intimate atmosphere.  

The selected courses for this school will present new methodologies for experimental studies, quantitative studies using large corpora, as well as new approaches in morphology, syntax, semantics and language acquisition. The availability of large corpora, some of them annotated, for a large variety of languages, has been beneficial for corpus-based grammar. Most linguistic theories agree on the necessity of testing their hypotheses with experimental methods (controlled acceptability judgements, reading times, eye movement, EEG…) on comprehension and production tasks. It is also important to compare human processing and the performances achieved by large language models (LLM).

Given the small size of the school, participants will be accommodated in the same place, enabling them to have intensive discussions with the instructors and other participants throughout the week, to prepare collective projects, etc. In addition to courses, ExpGram2024 will give PhD students the opportunity to present their work during a special session, which will allow them to receive valuable feedback on their project.

Outside class hours, participants will take advantage of the idyllic landscapes for swimming, snorkelling or diving in the shallow turquoise waters, cycling along island’s 60km of beautiful trails and paths, or simply walking through the forest to take in the unparalleled scents of maritime pines, lavenders, eucalyptus, etc.

At the end of each day, participants will celebrate life and linguistics, watching the sunset at the beach. 

Anne Abeillé, Gabriela Bilbiie, Barbara Hemforth, Christel Preterre, Juliette Thuilier

Including housing and all meals from Monday evening to Saturday lunchtime

• Standard fee: 500 euros
• Reduced fees: 250 euros (student and EFL  labex member) (shared rooms)