For information, or to join the Committee on LGBTQ+ [Z]* Issues in Linguistics, email the committee here
 

Background

Established in 2019 as an outgrowth of the LSA Special Interest Group (SIG) on the same topic. 

Charge

  • To help the Society and the profession identify, publicize, and implement ways of improving the recruitment, retention, and scholarly and professional development of LGBTQ+ linguists.
  • To make recommendations to the Society and the profession concerning ways in which full equality of opportunity can be provided to all who seek to study, teach, or conduct linguistics research.
  • To advocate for inclusive language and practices in the Society’s statements and guidelines as well as at the Society’s events.

Responsibilities

The work of the Committee includes but is not limited to the following:

  • Monitoring and advancing the inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community in linguistics.
  • Proposing to the Executive Committee LSA policies regarding the rights, opportunities, and needs of the LGBTQ+ community in linguistics, as well as evaluating said policies.
  • Maintaining liaison with other organizations concerned with LGBTQ+ diversity and equality in linguistics and allied fields and investigating possibilities for cooperating with such groups on specific projects.
  • Organizing professional development programming to assist LGBTQ+ linguists in advancing their careers.
  • Encouraging and promoting research on language, gender, and sexuality as well as developing professional, academic, and social platforms for said research.
  • Promoting communication, networking, and mentoring between LGBTQ+ students and professional linguists.
  • Promoting the positive recognition of mentoring, advising, and other supportive roles that may take up a disproportionately large contribution of time for the few LGBTQ+ faculty members in the professions and disseminating information about solutions to the problem of overburdening LGBTQ+ faculty in this way.
  • Collecting and disseminating relevant data and resource materials and publicizing the activities of the Committee by all appropriate means.

COZIL Blog

COZIL Blog- Check out the blog for posts by LSA members about LGBTQ+ linguistics and issues facing LGBTQ linguists.

Our Pride Month 2022 Posts are now up! Check them out!

*What's the Z for?

The "Z" in COZIL is a way to combine the LGBTQ+ acronym into a single, more easily readable letter in our acronym (it's a lot easier to say COZIL than COLGBTQIL). It also provides a nod to neopronouns by using a novel way of describing the community, and most importantly it allows for us to not favor any one portion of the community over another in the acronym.

Content & Resources

LSA Content & Resources

Guidelines for avoiding misgendering in professional communications

LSA Statement against linguistic misgendering

COZIL Programming

LGBTQ+ History Month October 2022

This year, we provide interviews with pioneers in LGBTQ+ representation in Linguistics. Read our introductory post and check out the interviews with Arnold Zwicky, Bill Leap, and Robin Queen!

Pride Month June 2022

  • Pride Month Blogs and Links!
  • Pride Month Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon (2022 Edition) was Saturday, June 4. See our Pride Month Blogs for a post about how it went!

Pride Month June 2021

Tyler Kibbey and Lal Zimman led a workshop at the UC Davis 2019 Linguistics Institute on LGBTQ+ advocacy and outreach.

Pride Month News Items, June 2019

Jeremy Calder, Kirby Conrod, and Tyler Kibbey held a webinar hosted by the LSA in April 2019 on LGBTQ+ Perspectives in Linguistics.

Data from a survey of LGBTQ+ identy in Linguistics was conducted by the SIG's founding members in late 2017 and is included in the LSA's 2017 Annual Report.

Webinar on "Approaching a Queer Dialectology," with Tyler Kibbey, Bryce McCleary, Brent Watts, and Jarrett Hopewell, co-sponsored by the University of Kentucky and COZIL.

  • Appraoching a Queer Dialectology (2020)
    • Queer Folk Linguistics: Language Regard and Intersectional Identity (Bryce McCleary, ppt slides)
    • Root-Rot: Comments on a Rootedness Metric in Relation to Queer Community (Tyler Kibbey, ppt slides)
    • The Man, the Moth, the Legend: The Role and Function of Folklore in Queer Appalachian Social Media Communities (Brent Watts, ppt slides)
    • On the Complexity of Animal Metaphors in Queer Speech (Jarrett Hopewell, ppt slides)

Workshop on "Methods for Working with Gender and Sex in Linguistics Research" hosted by Kirby Conrod at the University of Washington and co-sponsored by COZIL.

COZIL Sponsored Lectures and Panels for the 2020 Abralin Ao Vivo - Linguists Online! series:

External Resources

Lavender Langauges Institute (Florida Atlantic University)

The Lavender Languages Institute offers an amazing 2 weeks of intense conversation between people deeply invested in work with LGBTQ+ linguistics,  language ethnography, theory-building, and  applications of language-related insights to practical problem-solving. Please direct any questions about the Institute program to [email protected] or [email protected].

 

Membership (open)

At least eight members serving three-year terms, including at least one student member. 

Committee Chair, 2023

  • Kirby Conrod, Swarthmore College, In Coming Chair (2022 - 2024)

Executive Committee Liaison: Sonja Lanehart

Staff Liaison: Vy Le