SLIYS instructors are Ph.D. students studying in the Department of Linguistics at the Ohio State University. They have expertise in many areas of linguistics, familiarity with diverse languages, and experience teaching undergraduate courses. Linguistics Ph.D. students, faculty, staff, and alumni also participate as guest speakers and panelists.

SLIYS scholars are high school students from around the world who are interested in language learning. Some may have explored linguistics before, while for others it’s entirely new.

Each week of SLIYS meets for 5 hours on each of 5 weekdays, with several short breaks per day. The program is designed as a synchronous, interactive experience, so scholars' attendance is expected daily. Catching up via recorded video afterward is not possible, as no one, including program staff, is permitted to create or distribute a recording of a SLIYS session.

This is a sample schedule from a previous year of SLIYS. We are always working to improve the SLIYS experience, so future schedules may be different.

Monday

12:00-1:00  Introduction to Linguistics, and Language Documentation and Elicitation

1:00-1:15    Break

1:15-2:00    Phonetics: Consonants 1

2:00-2:15    Break

2:15-3:00    Phonetics: Consonants 2

3:00-3:15    Break

3:15-4:15    Language Elicitation Example

4:15-4:30    Break

4:30-5:00    Language Elicitation Session

Optional Home Lab for further practice

Tuesday

12:00-1:00  Phonetics: Vowels

1:00-1:15    Break

1:15-2:45    Visiting guest lecture

2:45-3:00    Break

3:00-4:00    Sociolinguistics and Language Variation

4:00-4:15    Break

4:15-5:00    Language Elicitation Session

Optional Home Lab for further practice

Wednesday

12:00-1:00  Morphology 1: Breaking Down Words

1:00-1:20    Break

1:20-2:20    Syntax: Breaking Down Sentences

2:20-2:40    Break

2:40-3:40    Pragmatics 1: Grice and the Conversation Game

3:40-4:00    Break

4:00-5:00    Language Elicitation Session

Optional Home Lab for further practice

Thursday

12:00-1:00  Semantics: What Words Mean and How They Fit Together

1:00-1:20    Break

1:20-2:20    Morphology 2: Processes and Typology

2:20-2:40    Break

2:40-3:40    Historical Linguistics: Language Change

3:40-4:00    Break

4:00-5:00    Language Elicitation Session

Optional Home Lab for further practice

Friday

12:00-1:00  Typology

1:00-1:15    Break

1:15-2:15    Prehistory Through Linguistics

2:15-2:30    Break

2:30-3:45    Panel Discussions with OSU Linguistics Faculty and Alumni

3:45-4:00    Break

4:00-4:45    Panel Discussions with OSU Linguistics Faculty and Alumni (continued)

4:45-5:00    Closing Words

While the overall structure of SLIYS 2 is similar to SLIYS 1, the material is different. SLIYS 2 topics build on the foundation established in SLIYS 1, and change each year depending on the instructors’ areas of expertise.  Representative topics from recent offerings of SLIYS 2 include:

• Bilingual Phenomena
• Child Language Acquisition
• Cognitive Psycholinguistics
• Computational Linguistics
• Conversation and Speech in Real Time
• Dialectology
• Historical Phonology: Sound Change
• Language Contact
• Language Reconstruction: The Comparative Method
• Loanwords and Loanword Adaptation
• Morphosyntax: Pronoun Syntax, Case, and Clitics
• Phonology 1: Allophones, Phonemes, and Phonotactics
• Phonology 2: Rule-Based Phonology
• Pragmatics 2: Speech Acts
• Second Language Acquisition
• Speech Perception