UW linguist given title of national linguistics society president | The ...

Linguistics President -

Linguistics professor Ellen Kaisse stands in her office in Padelford Hall. Kaisse was recently elected president of the Linguistic Society of America.

Photo by Joshua Bessex

Ellen Kaisse, a linguistics professor at the UW, has spent almost 30 years studying the intricacies of sound patterns in human speech. Now she is president of a national organization that strives to share knowledge about language with the world.

Kaisse began her term as the president of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) this month. She is the second UW faculty member in a decade to be elected president of the society.?

?Being president of [the LSA] is the greatest honor you can receive as a linguist,? said Julia Herschensohn, chair of the linguistics department at the UW.?

The LSA is the largest linguistic society in the world, with more than 4,000 members globally, said Frederick Newmeyer, former LSA president and emeritus faculty member of the UW linguistics department.?

Kaisse said linguists are the authority on language and language policy, seeking to understand the scientific aspects of language. She said the society has found evidence of the benefits of bilingual education.

?[Linguistics] looks at one of the most interesting characteristics of humans that separates us from other species,? Kaisse said.?

Kaisse said she will expand the journals produced by the LSA in order to spread knowledge about areas of linguistics that have not been explored as deeply as others during her term.?

While linguistics is not a well-understood field, the LSA has helped clarify common misconceptions about language, including the notions that American Sign Language is not a language and that English-only movements are justified.?

Kaisse specializes in phonology, the study of sound patterns in language. She has edited journals on the subject for more than 20 years and taught classes at the UW that help students learn the sounds of a second language, which she said has been beneficial to international students.?

?If you wanted to know something about chemistry, you would find out what chemists think about it,? Kaisse said. ?But for some reason, people think they?re experts in language whether they?ve studied it scientifically or not.?

Kaisse will serve as president of the society for one year.

Reach reporter Amy Busch at news@dailyuw.com.?Twitter: @AmyBusch2