LSA Accomplishments 2021
In 2021, the LSA continued its ongoing programs and services on behalf of its mission: to advance the scientific study of language. Highlights of new and expanded activities are outlined below.
Professional Development and Education
Held the LSA’s first-ever Linguistics Career Launch online event, organized by the Linguistics Beyond Academia Special Interest Group
- Issued new guides on:
- Co-organized a series of webinars on:
- The LSA Statement Against Linguistic Misgendering: Review and Practical Applications
- Reconstructing the Evolution of Proto-Indoeuropean Grammar
- Publishing in the Language and Public Policy Section of Language
- Webinar: Language Revitalization and Documentation, the Newest Section of the LSA’s Flagship Journal
- “Meet the Authors”: Toward Racial Justice in Linguistics: Interdisciplinary Insights into Theorizing Race in the Discipline and Diversifying the Profession
- Enhanced the LSA’s ongoing Mentoring Initiative, including “Pop-up” offerings at linguistics conferences, an online distance mentoring facility, special events at the Annual Meeting, webinars, and made our second mentoring award.
Scholarships, Professorships, Honors & Awards
- Granted diversity registration awards to 20 students participating in the 2021 Annual Meeting under the auspices of the LSA’s Committee on Ethnic Diversity in Linguistics.
- Launched two new awards in honor of Morris Halle and Victoria Fromkin for student and early career phonologists.
- Permanently endowed the newly named Preston Diversity Travel Awards with a generous donation from Dennis and Carol Guagliardo Preston.
- Launched the new Arnold Zwicky Award to recognize the contributions of LGBTQ+ scholars in Linguistics.
Advocacy
- Continued our campaign in support of Native American Language Revitalization legislation.
- Issued various Statements or Endorsements, independently and in collaboration with colleague organizations:
- Indigenous Community Issues
Language Advocacy Day 2019
- Importance of Linguistic Expertise in Legal Contexts
- Against Linguistic Misgendering
- Scholarly Merit and Evaluation of Open Scholarship in Linguistics
- Importance of Linguistic Expertise in Legal Contexts
- Violence and Xenophobia Against Asian-Americans
- Support of DOXA
- CNSF letters to Congress requesting funding of NSF for FY2022 and FY2023
- AHA Statement on Threats to Academic Conferences
- Scholars At Risk letter urging for aid to Afghanistan’s scholars, students, practitioners, civil society leaders, and activists
- ACLS Letter to Iowa Lawmakers Opposing Legislation to End Tenure at Public Universities
- ACLS Statement urging KS Board of Regents to uphold employment protections for faculty
- Indigenous Community Issues
Public Outreach and Media Relations
- Produced nine new episodes of our language and linguistics podcast, Subtitle, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and secured a second grant to continue the podcast in 2022.
- Appointed a new Social Media Committee and relaunched our program of external posts about language and linguistics in the news.
- Coordinated the LSA’s participation in UNESCO’s planning for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022‑2032, in partnership with SSILA.
- Expanded the LSA outreach to K-12 teachers via free Annual Meeting registration and special sessions for high school students at the meeting.
- Increased our reach on social media via daily posts about linguistics news stories appearing in the popular news media: over 44K followers on Facebook and more than 30K followers on Twitter.
Continuing Traditions
- Organized the LSA’s first-ever virtual Annual Meeting, attended by over 1000 linguists worldwide, and made plans for our first hybrid format meeting in Washington, DC, in January 2022.
- Increased readership of our flagship journal, Language, including a new section focused on documentation and revitalization of endangered languages.
- Continued LSA co-sponsorship of CoLang and supported planning associated with CoLang 2022 at the University of Montana, which was postponed from 2020 due to COVID-19.
- Published the sixth volume of the Proceedings of the LSA based on research presented at the 2021 Annual Meeting and new volumes of the Proceedings of the AMP and SALT.
- Issued a series of news releases about the latest research published in its journals and presented at its Annual Meeting, garnering significant coverage in prominent international media outlets.
- Provided financial assistance and in-kind support for linguists seeking to attend the LSA Annual Meeting and access LSA publications, including a campaign to support LSA members impacted by COVID-19.
- Published new volumes of Semantics & Pragmatics, and Phonological Data & Analysis, the platinum open-access journals of the LSA.
- Issued the eighth edition of the LSA’s Annual Report on the State of Linguistics in Higher Education [pdf], with new longitudinal LSA data.
- Represented linguists at national and international meetings of colleague organizations and through participation in coalitions and consortia working to advance science, the humanities, and higher education.
- Defended linguistics departments and programs against threats of cuts or elimination by contacting administrators and officials and by working behind the scenes to provide data supporting the value of linguistics.
- Conducted successful membership recruitment and retention campaigns using a range of strategies, including social media coupons, bulk student memberships for departments/programs, and specialized outreach by staff and leadership to participants in various LSA programs and services.
- Sponsored a Joint Membership Program with the American Dialect Society (ADS), offering reduced rates to LSA members wishing to join ADS.