Women, Language and Linguistics: Three American Stories From the First Half of the Twentieth Century (review)

This is a book about the history of linguistics, and of academe in America, structured around three professional biographies. Part 1 (Chs. 1–3, pp. 3–25) begins with a brief chapter on the 1924 founding of LSA and other signs of the professionalization of linguistics; the second chapter, ‘Women foundation members of the Linguistic Society of America’ (3–20), recaps much of Falk’s 1994 article of the same title. LSA’s founders included 31 women, most of whom soon disappeared from LSA rosters. Ch. 3, ‘Participation obstacles and exclusion’ (21–25) closes with the following: ‘Sexism played a role, as evidenced by the facts and figures cited here, but no single prejudice (against gender, institution, location, method, or interest) dominated those women’s careers and no single reason accounts for the neglect of their talents and their contributions. Many factors were involved. Under these circumstances it is remarkable that many of these women achieved so much.’

F chose to tell the stories of three high achievers (rather than a more representative cohort) for the simple reason that their careers have left a substantial yet relatively unmined archival record. The first story (Part 2, 33–92) is that of Alice Vanderbilt Morris (1874–1950), her leadership in the movement for a constructed auxiliary language and her support of research on language typology and universals. The heroine of the second story (Part 3, 93–184) is Gladys Amanda Reichard (1893–1955), a pioneer in the study of several Native American languages. The third story (Part 4, 185–264) traces the career of classical philologist E. Adelaide Hahn (1893–1967) as her field moved from the mainstream of linguistics in 1924 to its margins by the end of her life. Each biography is divided into brief chapters. A short epilogue (Part 5, 267–69) is followed by notes, references, and an excellent index.

Before the days of institutional support or granting agencies, academic research was often funded by wealthy individuals who pursued their intellectual interests as unpaid volunteers. Some of them were women such as Alice Vanderbilt Morris (AVM), the heroine of the first story,¹ which is also the story of the movement for a constructed international language.² The International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA), was founded in the same year as the LSA—1924. IALA founders included several foundation members of LSA, philosopher John Dewey, the presidents of several colleges and companies, and the future editor-in-chief of the New York Times, reflecting social ties among wealthy New Yorkers. Their main goal (like that of the European founders of Esperanto, Volapük, Basic English, Ido, Novial, etc.) was to improve communication ‘in the civilized world’, i.e. among speakers of Western European languages. Unlike Europeans committed to one or another language, IALA leaders aimed to find the optimal grammar and lexicon for such a language. Under its intellectual and financial angel, AVM, the IALA agenda ranged from basic research to practical issues. While IALA’s practical goals may seem bizarre today, its research agenda sounds surprisingly modern, e.g. ‘the recognition of principles common to all languages’ (51) and the dichotomy between a conventional (learned, constructed) lexicon and a ‘natural’ syntax with minimal grammar. Given these principles, the IALA’s choice fell on a version of Giuseppe Peano’s Interlingua, based on Peano’s earlier Latino sine flexione (Peano 1915). Consultants or board members included Franz Boas, Otto Jespersen, William Edward Collinson, and André Martinet—who served as Director of Research in the 1940s. Through IALA, AVM supported the research of Edward Sapir and other prominent American and European linguists. Sapir was a member of the IALA’s Advisory Board for Linguistic Research from 1927–1939 and salaried Director of Research in AY 1930–1931. Unlike the Eurocentric majority in IALA, Sapir believed that Chinese, with...