The first School was held in Cagliari (Italy) from 13th to 24th June 2016. The new edition will likewise be held in Cagliari, from 3rd to 7th June 2024. Restating what is often said regarding other disciplines, there are a number of important studies on languages ​​in the Mediterranean, but there are very few, if any, which concern Mediterranean languages specifically. The LLM School aims to fulfil the need to adopt an empirical approach to examine the product of thousands of years of language contact in this unique geo-anthropic context and to analyse these results from a 'holistic' but anti-essentialist perspective which does not adhere to any pre-established theory.

Two broad thematic lines will be developed in this edition. The first is dedicated to the analysis of linguistic varieties from a structural and functional point of view; the second line is dedicated to the analysis of socio- and pragma-linguistic dynamics in a historical perspective. Specific attention will be dedicated to the genesis of Romance languages, in the specific context of so-called Mediterranean Romania, and to the progressive definition of the 'normed' varieties in their relationship with writing during the various phases of the Middle Ages.

Particular attention will be given to non-standard varieties or to linguistic varieties caught in a phase prior to that of standardisation. This is for two main reasons: firstly, because they are generally less well known, and secondly, because they represent a fuller and more nuanced phenomenology of language contact, which has not been affected (or is less affected) by the language policies of the established state-communities. This edition will also focus particular attention on the textual dimension, i.e. interpreting texts from both a philological point of view as well as from the point of view of their social phenomenology within specific communities of practice.

Registration for the Summer School is now open: please check the information about fees, accommodation and venue. "Ce ne sont pas les ressemblances,
mais les différences, qui se ressemblent."
Claude Lévi-Strauss