Society for Linguistic Anthropology (U.S.)

The Society of Linguistic Anthropology was founded in Washington, D.C. at the 1982 annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association. It is a section of the AAA, and its purpose is to further the anthropological study of language in all its aspects.

From the description of Archives, 1982-1986. (American Philosophical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 122684038

During a major reorganization of the American Anthropological Association in 1982, the president of the organization, Dell Hymes, noted that although there were relatively few specialists in linguistic anthropology, the discipline was so central to anthropology that the field should be represented on the Board of Directors, and he argued further that a section devoted to linguistic anthropology would be highly valuable. With the assistance of Victor Golla and Bill Leap, among others, an organizational meeting was held at the annual meeting of the AAA in 1982, that attracted over 100 participants and that resulted in the appointment of an organizing committee for the new society.

In 1983, the Society for Linguistic Anthropology was formed as a section of the AAA with the goal of advancing the "study of language in its social and cultural context and to encourage communication of the results of such study." The first officers included Marianne Mithun (president) and Jane H. Hill (Secretary-Treasurer), both of whom had been instrumental figures in the organizing committee. The SLA has published the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology semiannually since 1991, and since 2001 they have given out the Edward Sapir Prize for the book making the most significant contribution to the understanding of language in society.

From the guide to the Society for Linguistic Anthropology Records, 1982-1986, (American Philosophical Society)