OVA has been established with the objective of making top-quality education in formal linguistics accessible to students from a variety of geographic, academic and economic backgrounds. Its affordable program offers introductory and advanced courses in syntax, semantics, phonology and morphology, while it also covers experimental methods, statistics and the connections between various areas of linguistic structure. Furthermore, it also provides students with an opportunity to present their current research findings, acquire a range of practical research skills and establish direct professional connections with both renowned researchers and early career scholars. It is this unique blend of academic rigor, accessibility and openness that makes OVA a particularly valuable initiative.
On behalf of OVA, it was Magdalena Lohninger (representing the University of Salzburg) who first welcomed the program’s students and instructors at the opening ceremony held on July 27 in the Main Building of the university. She noted that a great deal of work had been put into establishing this new summer course over the past year, which would not have been possible without the support of colleagues from all over the world, the efforts of the local organizers and the enthusiasm of the international linguistic community.
- OVA is a summer school in linguistics that attaches high priority to equality, equity and diversity. These efforts are reflected in the composition of our faculty of instructors, the diversity of theoretical approaches and the Code of Conduct we have adapted and introduced. All of these elements together ensure that all participants have the best possible experience, both professionally and personally- said Magdalena Lohninger.
The moniker OVA is an abbreviation, coming from the initial letters of the Latin phrase Omnes Voces Acceptamus, which means “We welcome all voices.”
- I could hardly think of a more appropriate basic principle for a summer school in linguistics than this, or, indeed, for academic life in general. The discipline of linguistics teaches us about how human language is characterized both by underlying structures and a remarkable level of diversity. Accordingly, academic communities also need commonly accepted norms of argumentation and justification, while the diversity of languages, theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches and intellectual traditions continues to serve as an indispensable condition for their functioning- said Péter Csatár in his opening remarks.
The acting Deputy Dean for Strategy and Economy at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Debrecen underlined that linguistics is represented at the Faculty of Humanities in a strong and extremely diverse fashion, with several institutes and departments dedicated to it, and that the research conducted there covers several languages, different levels of linguistic structures and a wide range of theoretical and methodological traditions.
-The intellectual diversity of our faculty reflects the conviction that linguistic phenomena can seldom be understood from a single perspective. We need not consider formal modeling, corpus analysis, experimental methods, computational approaches, discourse analysis and historical research as competing academic endeavors. On the contrary: all of these can contribute to a better understanding of how language is structured, how we use it and how it changes. Universities fulfill their academic mission most efficiently when the different approaches can exist together, challenging one another and enriching each other- said Péter Csatár in his speech.
In addition to the participants, who are enrolled in bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. programs in their respective countries, including Bulgaria, Germany, Italy and Turkey, OVA’s diversity is also reflected in its international pool of faculty, the members of which come to the University of Debrecen representing prestigious institutions of higher education in Europe, such as the University of Göttingen, the University of Potsdam and University College London.
The current two-week program offers a broad range of courses primarily in the fields of syntax, semantics and phonology, that is, various branches of linguistics, ranging from the introductory level to advanced and research-oriented sessions. As a result, participants with varying levels of prior knowledge can all find courses suited to their personal level of expertise.
-An additional key objective of this summer course is to minimize the distance between students and instructors as much as possible. To this end, all our students are accommodated in the same dormitory, where students, instructors and organizers can spend time together frequently, even outside of classes. This relaxed and friendly atmosphere creates an opportunity for participants, including both students and instructors, to focus on linguistics in an open and inspiring setting,” said Péter Szűcs, Assistant Professor of the Department of English Linguistics at the Institute of English and American Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Debrecen, and one of the organizers of the event, to hirek.unideb.hu.
Naturally, the organizers also try to do their best to provide course participants with the opportunity to get to know our city and the university in addition to participating in the classes and lectures in order to allow them to gain insight into Hungarian culture and cuisine.
The detailed program for the summer school in linguistics is available for your reading pleasure at https://ovaschool.github.io/ova2026/.
Press Center – BZs