The Women Foundation Members of the Linguistic Society of America

Abstract

This paper examines the major professional interests and accomplishments of the 31 women Foundation Members of the Linguistic Society of America and identifies the characteristics shared by those who established a presence within the profession, distinguishing their careers from the careers of those who did not. The inclusion of these women linguists in the history of the field for the decades beginning in 1924 brings a new focus to several areas of scholarship, pursued by both men and women, distinct from the concerns of the synchronic structuralism that came to be taken, in retrospect, as defining American work for this period.

The Ohio State University and Columbus and the foundations of the Linguistic Society of America

“…She entered OSU with advanced standing in French and German, languages she continued to study as an undergraduate, for instance. We obtained the transcript (actually, a list of courses she registered for, with all of her grades for the courses blotted out for reasons of privacy) through an official request made to the Office of the Registrar at OSU; we thank Michael Wright, Associate Registrar at OSU, for granting us access to this information.4 Ruth M. Keller is no relation to May Lansfield Keller, a FM about whom much is known (cf Falk 1994, Turnbull 1975…”