27-31st Jul 2026
Stuttgart, Germany
Deadline: 25th Apr 2026
The 13th edition (2026) of the EACL Summer School in Chinese Linguistics will be held from July 27 – July 31, 2026 at the Linguistics Department of Stuttgart University, Keplerstraße 17, 70174 Stuttgart.
The goal of the summer school is to provide an opportunity for MA and PhD students affiliated to European universities to be exposed to areas in Chinese linguistics which might not be available in their home institution.
The 13th edition of the EACL Summer School offers the following four courses which will be of a duration of 1.5 hours; each course will be offered daily:
The Syntax-Semantics Interface of Modern Mandarin
Course on the Syntax-Semantics Interface of Modern Mandarin with special regard to expressions of scalarity, degree expressions, scalar focus particles such as ‘even’, ‘only’, one of the currently most discussed topics in Chinese theoretical linguistics. Additionally, desire predicates and temporal expressions will be at issue, thus combining issues in syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. (Prof. Dr. Daniel Hole, Peng Liu)
The diachronic development of the TAM system of Chinese
The diachronic development of the TAM (Tense-Aspect-Modality) system of Chinese starting from Archaic (6th – 3rd c. BCE) to Early and Late Middle Chinese (2nd c. BCE to 10 c. CE), based on the 2024 book ‘Diachronic Development of Modal Expressions in Chinese’. The course will provide an introduction to the development of the vP, TP, and CP in Chinese from Archaic to Middle Chinese, including a brief introduction to the morpho-syntactic changes that the verb phrase underwent. Changes in the structure of TP, and in the system of modal marking, i.e., the grammaticalization of lexical verbs particularly into deontic modal auxiliaries will be discussed, following the syntactic frameword proposed in Roberts and Roussou 2003. The loss of a former (reconstructed) derivational morphology caused considerable changes in the syntax of Chinese leading from a more synthetic to a more analytic language.A new system of modal markers, of aspectual markers, and of markers of resultativity emerged together with a change of verbs from being almost exclusively monosyllabic to a more disyllabic system. These changes will be analysed within the cartographic framework (Barbara Meisterernst, Stuttgart University).
The Syntax of Cantonese
The course provides a comprehensive overview of the syntax of Cantonese, with a special focus on its differences from Mandarin Chinese. A famous quote by Yuen Ren Chao, the father of modern Chinese linguistics, states that “it is in matters of grammar that the greatest degree of uniformity is found among all the dialects of the Chinese language.” Over the past decades, however, the field has come to recognize that there are considerable syntactic differences within Sinitic languages, among which Cantonese plays a significant role in shaping our understanding of variation as well as general linguistic theory. The course introduces topics in Cantonese syntax, including word order differences, sentence-final particles, classifier structures, passive and dative constructions, and separable verbs, among others. It also addresses the importance of systematic correlations with independent properties of the language in developing a parametric theory of variation, and how such work informs the study of Mandarin Chinese itself. (Ka Fai Yip, Yale University)
Sinitic Languages of the Pearl River Region
This course introduces a range of basic concepts commonly encountered in the linguistic studies
of the Sinitic languages spoken in the Pearl River Region. Using Standard Cantonese
(representative of Yue Chinese) as a starting point, a central portion of this course is devoted to
Yue and Pinghua Chinese. Also touched upon are the other Sinitic languages (e.g. Hakka), and
some non-Sinitic languages in and around the region (e.g. Zhuang, Vietnamese), including their
writing systems. Typological perspectives are considered throughout this course. Some of the
discussions have a historical dimension, e.g. Early Cantonese, Middle Chinese. Language contact
is an important theme; the influence from the indigenous languages, especially the Kra-Dai
languages (e.g. Zhuang), is an important component of the Pearl River Sinitic languages. While
the Pearl River Sinitic languages are the foci of this course, many of the basic concepts discussed
are also applicable to the linguistic research on other Sinitic languages.
For this course, undergraduate-level knowledge of Mandarin and/or Cantonese is presumed. Some
basic familiarisation of Jyutping Cantonese Romanisation prior to the course would be
advantageous (but not prerequisite). (Hilário de Sousa, EHESS – CRLAO)
The courses offered will allow the participants of the summer school to enhance their knowledge in the syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of different languages spoken in the Chinese area both from a synchronic, but also from a diachronic perspective.
In addition to the four courses, we will offer three evening lectures:
Zhaole Yang, Leiden University: “Gāi chī chī, gāi hē hē, ài shéi shéi”: Licensing Barest Conditionals at the Syntax-Prosody Interface”;
Alexander Wimmer, Postdoc, Stuttgart University: “Conditional evaluative constructions in Chinese”;
Redouance Djamouri, CRLAO-EHESS: “Innovations in the Tangwang language, a Northern Mandarin language, by internal evolution rather than language contact.”
Students must attend all classes in all 4 courses, and fulfill other course requirements, if any. All students who successfully finish the 4 courses will receive a certificate of attendance during the social dinner on July 31, 2026.
Who can apply?
MA and PhD students affiliated to European universities are eligible to apply. Applications that do not correspond to these criteria may be considered if there are vacancies.
Attendance fees?
An attendance fee of 80€/person will be charged. This is to cover snacks/coffee/tea during the summer school plus the cost of a social dinner on July 31, 2026.
Please note that transportation and accommodation costs are covered by the participants.
The organizers already arranged for accommodation in the Internationales Studierendenhotel, Stuttgart Neckerstrasse 172, 70190 Stuttgart. Single rooms with a common bath are 53€ per night including a very good breakfast. We also reserved some double rooms. The reservations have to be confirmed by the end of April 2026.
All participants, except for MA students, are required to be EACL members. Please see here for information for becoming a member:
https://www.chineselinguistics.eu/membership/
How to apply?
Candidates should send their application in one PDF file to the following address:
barbara.meisterernst@ling.uni-stuttgart.de
Please use the candidate’s last name as filename for the PDF.
The application should include 2 parts, as listed below:
Part 1:
An academic CV containing the following information:
· Name, gender, email address
· Name of your university and department; name of your advisor / main teacher in Chinese and/or linguistics. No recommendation is needed.
· Information on your previous academic training, including the year you started your Master/PhD course; information on your training in linguistics and in Chinese.
· Main fields of interest and the subject of your MA/PhD research.
· List of publications and/or talks/posters at conferences, if any.
Part 2:
A short motivation letter (10-15 lines) explaining why you want to attend the summer school. (This is very important for the selection procedure).
Website: under construction
Deadline?
Applications must be received by April 25, 2026. In the application email, please indicate whether you want to confirm the reservation in the Internationales Studierendenhotel. Late submissions will not be accepted. Prospective participants will be notified by May 31, 2026. The board of EACL functions as the admission committee.
The web address of the summer school will be made public as soon as it is available. Please also check our website for possible changes:
https://www.chineselinguistics.eu