The 2025 Edinburgh Theoretical Historical Linguistics (ETHL) Seminar was the first event organised under the ETHL name (although we hope there will be more!). The two day mini-summer school ran on the 16^th and 17^th of April at the University of Edinburgh and was created by PhD students there. ETHL aimed to promote study at the intersection of Theoretical and Historical linguistics by providing historical linguists an opportunity to develop their understanding of theory in historical work as well as encouraging theoretical linguists to consider the relevance of diachronic development to linguistic theory. 

Four masterclasses in various aspects of theoretical historical linguistics were taught by leading theoretical historical linguists: Laura Grestenberger, Patrick Honeybone, Ranjan Sen, and George Walkden. Laura and Ranjan taught specific masterclasses in historical theories, respectively, Distributed Morphology and the Life Cycle of Phonological Processes. While George and Patrick discussed philosophical issues of theoretical historical linguistics addressing the locus of change and what it means to do reconstruction (spoiler: historical reconstruction is not all that different to modelling the synchronic grammar). Finally, Theresa Biberauer’s plenary talk synthesised some of the ideas raised in the masterclasses in addressing the position of generative historical linguistics within 21^st century linguistics. 

In addition to the taught sessions, students were given the opportunity to present their own research in the innovative ‘snap-talk’ sessions. These 10 minute talk sessions served the same purpose as a poster but tailored to theoretical research which relies more heavily on verbal argumentation.

ETHL was widely attended with around 50 academics from all career stages, from undergraduate to professor! As such ETHL reached its target audience with the sessions being expertly pitched so every audience member could gain something from it – regardless of their linguistic background. ETHL also proved to be an excellent community building event bringing together theoretical and historical linguists in a specialised venue, the first of its kind. 

ETHL would not have been possible without the support of the Philological Society for which we are very grateful. Funding from PhilSoc contributed to the expenses of our three (in person) external speakers allowing us to broaden the scope of expertise beyond that at Edinburgh. Furthermore, this support allowed us to keep the registration fee low for our attendees making the event widely accessible.