science

The American Society of Geolinguistics

The American Society of Geolinguistics is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The American Society of Geolinguistics rather than just read about it. In short: The American Society of Geolinguistics is the oldest organization devoted exclusively to research in the field of geolinguistics with the definition given by the Society to the term geolinguistics, currently being: "An academic discipline involving the analysis and implications of the geographical location, distribution and structure of language varieties within a temporal framework, either in isolation or in contac…

Key takeaways

The American Society of Geolinguistics belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The American Society of Geolinguistics to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The American Society of Geolinguistics from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The American Society of Geolinguistics is the oldest organization devoted exclusively to research in the field of geolinguistics with the definition given by the Society to the term geolinguistics, currently being: "An academic discipline involving the analysis and implications of the geographical location, distribution and structure of language varieties within a temporal framework, either in isolation or in contact and/or conflict with one another, being originally conceived of by Mario Pei as being a branch of linguistics which would be used to do objective-oriented research on real-life language issues and where interdisciplinary approaches would be acceptable."

Mission The Society's slogan is "Geolinguistics for the Americas and elsewhere". The mission statement of the Society states that "The mission of the Society is to gather and disseminate up-to-date knowledge concerning the world`s present-day languages, dialects, and other language varieties in the context of their distribution and use, their relative practical importance, their perceived usefulness and actual availability from economic, political and cultural standpoints, their genetic, historical and geographical affiliations and relationships, and their identification and use in spoken and written form. The Society, as such, has varying degrees of interest in linguistic geography, languages in contact and conflict, language planning and policy, language education and the broader aspects of sociolinguistics."

Organization

Membership Membership in The American Society of Geolinguistics is open to anyone but is not a pre-requirement for submitting articles for publication.

Presidents emeriti Past and present presidents emeriti of the Society are Mario A. Pei, William F. Marquardt, Fedor I. Nikanov, Abraham Tauber, Mimi (Mary F.) Delcuve, Allen Walker Read, Irving Linn, Jesse Levitt, William C. Woolfson, Max Oppenheimer, Jr., Marcelle Altieri, Kenneth H. Rogers, Alexander Milic, Margaret M. Bryant, Etta Sibalis, Frances Lyman, Abraham Taffel, Gloria Taylor, Leonard R. N. Ashley, and Julius Balbin.

Officers and directors Its officers consist of a president, a first vice president, a second vice president, a secretary, and a treasurer. The officers are assisted by a board of directors. The Society's activities in the United States are taken care of by its secretary in New York. The secretary has authority which includes the management of all domestic conferences and publications. Conferences and publications committees which seek to promote the work of the Society outside of the United States exist under the authority of the Society's president, though, with regard to foreign publications, the secretary and president act together as joint editors in chief.

History The American Society of Geolinguistics was founded in January 1965 by Professor Mario Pei. Monthly meetings were held to discuss to discuss different languages and their relationship to where they were and to the effect this might have on neighboring areas. Geolinguistics was used to describe this area of academic interest. The word was not originally associated with the idea of language map-making, but had been suggested to him during World War II by a student of his who suggested to him that a new academic discipline was needed which should be called ‘geolinguistics’ by analogy with ‘geopolitics.’” In 1974 the Society began publishing its journal Geolinguistics. In 1985, it held its first international conference under the initiative of its president (now President Emeritus), Professor Leonard R. N. Ashley, in New York. In 2015, by the initiative of Professor Wayne Finke of Baruch College (City University of New York), it held its first international conference abroad in Tokyo and dedicated the proceedings of this conference to its long-serving president, Leonard R. N. Ashley.

Conferences and meetings

Domestic The Society holds an annual luncheon in New York for officers and other members.

International International conferences, open to members and non-members alike, have been held in New York since 1985 and since the beginning of the 21st century on an annual basis. Similar conferences have likewise been held in Tokyo on an annual basis since 2015.

Publications Geolinguistics, the journal of the American Society of Geolinguistics, has been published since 1974. Conference proceedings have been published since 1987 for international conferences held in New York and since 2015 for international conferences held in Tokyo.

References

External links American Society of Geolinguistics

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The American Society of Geolinguistics

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The American Society of Geolinguistics claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The American Society of Geolinguistics before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The American Society of Geolinguistics ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The American Society of Geolinguistics

In research: The American Society of Geolinguistics appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The American Society of Geolinguistics in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The American Society of Geolinguistics is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Linguistic societies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The American Society of Geolinguistics outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The American Society of Geolinguistics in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The American Society of Geolinguistics means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
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Frequently asked questions

What is The American Society of Geolinguistics in simple terms?

Why does The American Society of Geolinguistics matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The American Society of Geolinguistics?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The American Society of Geolinguistics.