Linguistic Society of America
Encyclopedia
The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) is a professional society for linguists. It was founded in 1924 to advance linguistics
, the scientific study of human language. The LSA has over 5,000 individual members and welcomes linguists of all kinds. It works to advance the discipline and to communicate findings in linguistics to a wider audience. Through its website, its annual and summer meetings, its biennial summer institutes, and its journal Language
, the LSA works to disseminate current research in linguistics and facilitate communication within the discipline. The Society also participates in the public discourse on language and linguistic issues, contributing to policy debates on issues such as bilingual education, "Ebonics
", and the English-only movement.
The first president of the LSA was Hermann Collitz
, elected in 1925. Many prominent linguists have served in this position, including Franz Boas
(1928), Edward Sapir
(1933), Zellig Harris
(1955), Roman Jakobson
(1956), Mary Haas
(1963), Morris Halle
(1974), Peter Ladefoged
(1978) and Joan Bybee
(2004) among others. The current president of the LSA (2011) is Sandra Chung
.
http://www.lsadc.org/info/pubs-language.cfm, consisting of major articles and shorter reports of original research, as well as review articles, book reviews, and book notices of recently published works. Journal articles cover all areas of the field and from all theoretical frameworks. The LSA also sponsors eLanguage http://elanguage.net, a platform for online, open-access journals. The LSA also awards recently published books the Leonard Bloomfield Book Award
.
, the 2009 Institute was hosted at the University of California, Berkeley
, and the 2011 Institute was hosted at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The 2013 Institute will be held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Each Institute honors the contributions of particular linguists with their appointment by the LSA to titled chairs at the Institute: the Sapir
chair in general linguistics, the Collitz
Chair in historical linguistics, and (from 2005) the Ken Hale
chair in linguistic fieldwork and the preservation of endangered languages.
in the United States
. The LSA statement argued that "English-only measures ... are based on misconceptions about the role of a common language in establishing political unity, and ... are inconsistent with basic American traditions of linguistic tolerance." In 1997, an LSA resolution supported the Oakland school-board in its attempt to favor teaching that is sensitive to the distinctive characteristics of African American Vernacular English
(the so-called "Ebonics
" debate). A 2001 resolution on sign language
s "affirm[ed] that sign languages used by deaf communities are full-fledged languages with all the structural characteristics and range of expression of spoken languages" and lent the support of the LSA to a status for sign languages equal to that accorded to other languages in academic and political life. A complete list of resolutions and statements adopted by the LSA may be found on its website.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, the scientific study of human language. The LSA has over 5,000 individual members and welcomes linguists of all kinds. It works to advance the discipline and to communicate findings in linguistics to a wider audience. Through its website, its annual and summer meetings, its biennial summer institutes, and its journal Language
Language (journal)
Language is a peer-reviewed quarterly academic journal published by the Linguistic Society of America since 1925. It covers all aspects of linguistics, focusing on the area of theoretical linguistics...
, the LSA works to disseminate current research in linguistics and facilitate communication within the discipline. The Society also participates in the public discourse on language and linguistic issues, contributing to policy debates on issues such as bilingual education, "Ebonics
Oakland Ebonics controversy
On December 18, 1996, the Oakland, California school board passed a controversial resolution recognizing the legitimacy of "Ebonics"—what mainstream linguists more often term African American Vernacular English—as a language...
", and the English-only movement.
The first president of the LSA was Hermann Collitz
Hermann Collitz
Hermann Collitz, Ph. D. was an eminent German historical linguist and Indo-Europeanist, who spent much of his career in the United States...
, elected in 1925. Many prominent linguists have served in this position, including Franz Boas
Franz Boas
Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...
(1928), Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir was an American anthropologist-linguist, widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the early development of the discipline of linguistics....
(1933), Zellig Harris
Zellig Harris
Zellig Sabbettai Harris was a renowned American linguist, mathematical syntactician, and methodologist of science. Originally a Semiticist, he is best known for his work in structural linguistics and discourse analysis and for the discovery of transformational structure in language...
(1955), Roman Jakobson
Roman Jakobson
Roman Osipovich Jakobson was a Russian linguist and literary theorist.As a pioneer of the structural analysis of language, which became the dominant trend of twentieth-century linguistics, Jakobson was among the most influential linguists of the century...
(1956), Mary Haas
Mary Haas
Mary Rosamund Haas was an American linguist who specialized in North American Indian languages, Thai, and historical linguistics.-Early work in linguistics:...
(1963), Morris Halle
Morris Halle
Morris Halle , is a Latvian-American Jewish linguist and an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
(1974), Peter Ladefoged
Peter Ladefoged
Peter Nielsen Ladefoged was an English-American linguist and phonetician who traveled the world to document the distinct sounds of endangered languages and pioneered ways to collect and study data . He was active at the universities of Edinburgh, Scotland and Ibadan, Nigeria 1953–61...
(1978) and Joan Bybee
Joan Bybee
Joan L. Bybee is an American linguist. She is a Distinguished Professor at the University of New Mexico. She served as president of the Linguistic Society of America in 2004. Much of her work concerns grammaticalisation, stochastics, modality, phonology and morphology.- Bibliography :*Hooper, Joan...
(2004) among others. The current president of the LSA (2011) is Sandra Chung
Sandra Chung
Sandra Chung is a linguist and professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Santa Cruz with a speciality in syntax and semantics. She earned her A.B. and Ph.D. at Harvard University, where her dissertation was on the comparative syntax of Polynesian languages...
.
Publications
The LSA publishes a quarterly journal, LanguageLanguage (journal)
Language is a peer-reviewed quarterly academic journal published by the Linguistic Society of America since 1925. It covers all aspects of linguistics, focusing on the area of theoretical linguistics...
http://www.lsadc.org/info/pubs-language.cfm, consisting of major articles and shorter reports of original research, as well as review articles, book reviews, and book notices of recently published works. Journal articles cover all areas of the field and from all theoretical frameworks. The LSA also sponsors eLanguage http://elanguage.net, a platform for online, open-access journals. The LSA also awards recently published books the Leonard Bloomfield Book Award
Leonard Bloomfield Book Award
The Leonard Bloomfield Book Award is presented by the Linguistic Society of America to the recently published book "which makes the most outstanding contribution to the development of our understanding of language and linguistics". From its establishment in 1992 through 2008 the award was made...
.
Meetings
Each year in early January, the LSA organizes an Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting is currently a four-day conference, with a program of talks, plenary speakers, symposia, and poster sessions for researchers to share their work. The 2011 meeting took place in Pittsburgh, PA. The 2012 meeting will take place in Portland, OR.Linguistic Institutes
In conjunction with a host institution, the LSA organizes a biennial Summer Institute, a four to six-week summer school where students, faculty, and others interested in linguistics can attend courses, talks, and workshops taught by experts in the field. The 2007 Institute was hosted at Stanford UniversityStanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, the 2009 Institute was hosted at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, and the 2011 Institute was hosted at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The 2013 Institute will be held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Each Institute honors the contributions of particular linguists with their appointment by the LSA to titled chairs at the Institute: the Sapir
Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir was an American anthropologist-linguist, widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the early development of the discipline of linguistics....
chair in general linguistics, the Collitz
Hermann Collitz
Hermann Collitz, Ph. D. was an eminent German historical linguist and Indo-Europeanist, who spent much of his career in the United States...
Chair in historical linguistics, and (from 2005) the Ken Hale
Kenneth L. Hale
Kenneth Locke Hale was a linguist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studied a huge variety of previously unstudied and often endangered languages—especially indigenous languages of North America, Central America and Australia...
chair in linguistic fieldwork and the preservation of endangered languages.
Resolutions and Statements
The LSA takes a stand on many language-related issues, especially those relating to public policy. For instance, in 1987, the LSA officially took a stand against the English-only movementEnglish-only movement
English-only movement, also known as Official English movement, refers to a political movement for the use only of the English language in official government operations through the establishing of English as the only official language in the United States...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The LSA statement argued that "English-only measures ... are based on misconceptions about the role of a common language in establishing political unity, and ... are inconsistent with basic American traditions of linguistic tolerance." In 1997, an LSA resolution supported the Oakland school-board in its attempt to favor teaching that is sensitive to the distinctive characteristics of African American Vernacular English
African American Vernacular English
African American Vernacular English —also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular , or Black Vernacular English —is an African American variety of American English...
(the so-called "Ebonics
African American Vernacular English
African American Vernacular English —also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular , or Black Vernacular English —is an African American variety of American English...
" debate). A 2001 resolution on sign language
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
s "affirm[ed] that sign languages used by deaf communities are full-fledged languages with all the structural characteristics and range of expression of spoken languages" and lent the support of the LSA to a status for sign languages equal to that accorded to other languages in academic and political life. A complete list of resolutions and statements adopted by the LSA may be found on its website.