Society for Linguistic Anthropology

Society for Linguistic Anthropology
American Anthropological Association · Public domain · source
Name	Society for Linguistic Anthropology
Formation	1974
Type	Learned society
Headquarters	United States
Leader title	President

Society for Linguistic Anthropology is a learned society devoted to the study of language through anthropological perspectives and methods, affiliated with the American Anthropological Association. It brings together scholars from the traditions of Franz Boas, Bronisław Malinowski, Edward Sapir, Benjamin Lee Whorf, and Noam Chomsky-influenced debates, engaging with figures such as Dell Hymes, John Gumperz, Erving Goffman, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Raymond Firth. The Society participates in interdisciplinary dialogues with institutions like Smithsonian Institution, National Endowment for the Humanities, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, University of California, Berkeley, and Oxford University.

History

The Society was established amid intellectual currents linked to Chicago School (sociology), the legacy of Boasian anthropology, and critiques emerging from structuralism and functionalism associated with scholars such as Bronislaw Malinowski and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown. Early contributors included members of networks connected to Yale University, Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Chicago, intersecting with projects at American Philosophical Society and Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. The Society’s formative years corresponded with debates involving Dell Hymes and the development of ethnography of communication against backdrops shaped by events like the expansion of the American Anthropological Association annual meetings and grant cycles from National Science Foundation.

Mission and Objectives

The Society’s mission aligns with curricular aims at universities such as University of California, Los Angeles, New York University, University of Michigan, University of Cambridge, and University of Oxford to advance research on linguistic diversity, language ideology, and communicative practice. Objectives include promoting collaborations with archival centers like the Library of Congress, the British Library, and the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America, supporting projects funded by NEH and NSF, and fostering research that dialogues with theories from pragmatics and scholars such as J. L. Austin, John Searle, and Paul Grice.

Membership and Governance

Membership draws from faculty and researchers affiliated with Brown University, Duke University, Indiana University Bloomington, University of Texas at Austin, McGill University, and independent scholars connected to organizations such as American Council of Learned Societies and Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Governance structures mirror those of societies like Linguistic Society of America and include elected officers, executive committees, and standing committees that interact with bodies such as Association for Computational Linguistics, Society for Applied Linguistics, and regional groups including Society for Caribbean Linguistics. Presidents and officers have included scholars whose careers intersect with University of Chicago, Stanford University, Cornell University, and University of Pennsylvania.

Conferences and Meetings

The Society organizes sessions at the American Anthropological Association annual meeting and convenes panels and workshops in collaboration with institutions including American Museum of Natural History, Field Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, and academic conferences such as Biennial Conference on Indigenous Languages of Latin America and symposia hosted at School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS). It has sponsored thematic conferences on topics resonant with publications from Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Oxford University Press, and journal special issues featuring contributors from University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, Australian National University, and University of Helsinki.

Publications and Awards

The Society supports editorial work connected to journals comparable to American Anthropologist, Language in Society, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, and monograph series published by presses such as University of California Press and Berghahn Books. It recognizes excellence through awards reflecting traditions akin to the Franz Boas Award and other honors echoing prizes given by Linguistic Society of America and Royal Anthropological Institute. Recipients often hold affiliations with Yale University, Princeton University, University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and research centers like Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Research Areas and Contributions

Research spans studies of language ideology and discourse analysis informed by work from John Gumperz, Dell Hymes, and Erving Goffman; documentation and revitalization of indigenous languages in collaboration with communities documented in archives like ELAR and PARADISEC; sociophonetics and interactional sociolinguistics with links to scholars at Queen Mary University of London and University College London; and political ecology of language engaging with projects connected to Human Rights Watch and UNESCO. Methodological contributions involve ethnographic fieldwork traditions established at Boas House and analytical frameworks used in research funded by National Institutes of Health and NEH. The Society’s scholarship intersects with digital humanities initiatives at Stanford University Libraries and computational projects from Google Research and Microsoft Research.

Outreach and Education

Outreach efforts include partnerships with museums like British Museum and Museum of Anthropology at UBC, collaboration with school districts in programs similar to those run by Teach for America-adjacent projects, and public-facing lectures hosted at venues such as Carnegie Hall and Brooklyn Academy of Music-style community events. Educational programs connect graduate training at University of California, Berkeley, UCLA, University of Arizona, and University of Kansas to field schools and summer institutes patterned after offerings at University of British Columbia and SIL International workshops. The Society also engages with policy forums at UNESCO and advisory efforts with National Endowment for the Arts.

Category:Linguistic societies Category:Anthropology organizations