About us

The "Schweizerische Sprachwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft / Société Suisse de Linguistique (SSG/SSL)" was founded on August 30, 1947. Article 2 of the statutes describes the society's purpose as follows: "The society pursues the goal of promoting linguistic interests and activities." The members of the society are linguists who are working at Swiss universities. In the early days, the society only accepted members who held a PhD in linguistics. This restriction was abandoned in 1980, and the society opened to a broader public. In 1994, the statutes were adjusted accordingly. Article 3 of the statues now reads as follows: "Individuals can become members if they are involved in linguistic research or if they are interested in the scientific results of linguistic research and the application of these results."

The revision of the statutes coincided with the founding of a subordinate society, the "Vereinigung für Angewandte Linguistik in der Schweiz / Association Suisse de Linguistique Appliquée (VALS/ASLA)". It is possible to be a member of the VALS/ASLA without being a member of the SSL/SSG. Thanks to financial support from the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences, the SSG/SSL is able to edit the VALS-Bulletin and the "Cahiers Ferdinand de Saussure". Every two years, the SSG/SSL organizes the Swiss Days of Linguistics, a conference that focuses on current issues of linguistic research. In addition, the society supports junior scientists with travel grants to participate in international conferences. From 1993 to 2009, the SSG/SSL organized a biannual summer school for PhD students. This event is no longer organized, however, as there nowadays are plenty of other summer schools in the domain of linguistics (Pro*Doc, programs organized by swissuniversities, etc.).

In 2009, the SSG/SSL organized the conference "Assises de linguistique" together with linguists from universities in Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Further, the society organized the study day "Linguistic research projects" in 2011. At this event, 15 projects financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the European Union were presented to a wider public. In 2013, the SSG/SSL in collaboration with the University of Geneva was in charge of organizing the 19th "Congrès International des Linguistes", which represents on of the largest linguistic conferences in the world. The conference focused on the interface between language and cognition.