The UMass Amherst linguistics department will host the 2023 Linguistic Institute of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) from June 19 through July 14. The institute, which is the largest gathering of linguists in the world, will be co-organized by Department of Linguistics associate professor Ana Arregui and professor Kyle Johnson. Registration opens in mid-February.

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The 2023 institute will consist of four weeks of courses, conferences and workshops, with instructors and students coming from many universities in the U.S. and across the globe to celebrate this year's theme of “Linguistics as Cognitive Science: Universality and Variation. The goal is to highlight contributions made by the study of language to the scientific study of the human mind.

"It is a great opportunity for our department to host this Institute," says Arregui.

The institute is intended to provide a way for linguists to integrate their collective knowledge of what is universal in human language while also accounting for linguistic variation across populations. By appealing to both strands, variety in language, and its limits, LSA aims to unite researchers working on language with diverse interests and points of view, with a stimulating set of course offerings that range from introductory courses to state-of-the-art seminars.

In addition to courses, the 2023 institute will include workshops, sessions on professional development, social gatherings, lectures by experts and more.

To learn more about LSA, visit linguisticsociety.org. For information about the 2023 Linguistic Institute, visit blogs.umass.edu/lingstitute2023.